Pilgrimage
by Good concept
Summary: A journey through the new world. Wild magic, myths and ancient beings. Demiurge in Holy kingdom.
1. Chapter 1

GOOD CONCEPT ~o~

Overlord fanfiction

Disclaimer: I do not own Overlord.

I have written this as a parallel and continuation to the Overlord Light Novel written by Kugane Maruyama. The story goes parallel with the Overlord story line and will not merge with the main story line until the end of the events of volume 11. However, Ainz's exploits will affect the story, just nothing that will impact the happenings of the 11th volume.

Events of the story are triggered with Demiurge's travel to the Holy Kingdom to get skin for the parchments and an additional secret mission mentioned in Volume 9.

I hope that Volume 12 will come out right as the story comes to the merging point by which I can create an alternate storyline while getting inspiration from Kugane's writing. I apologize in advance for the time you will spend reading without getting SUPREME BEING action. I just want to explore this new world and its potential before everything becomes "Ainz steamrolling pathetic weaklings of the new world". This will be my first story ever so I would appreciate your help and support in developing and improving the story.

Since this is my first time writing on the subject and in this style, I expect this to be quite inadequate at the beginning but hopefully it will become a good fiction in the future. Thank you.

OooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO

Intro:

"The Holy Kingdom has been secluded in its corner for centuries because of the Beastmen tribes to its east. The warring tribes effectively blocking the only land connection of the Luth peninsula that the Holy Kingdom resides over, to the rest of the known world…"

Berethur wrote on the parchment hastily as he played with the nail poking under his desk in his small room. The cold coming eastwards from the sea had little difficulty entering his room and he couldn't wait to get in his bed, under thick blankets.

"A wall, ten-thousand-mile-long, was made 555 years ago, by the God Emperor, in a mere week before his departure from his newly founded Holy Kingdom. The secret scriptures state that he was a man of immense size and weight with blonde hair, pursed lips and an air of discontent that lingered infinitely around him…"

He looked at what he wrote, 'how can he be satisfied when his subjects are the fools of this kingdom' he thought, amused. A God –although he was sure it was just a powerful man, foolish at best- of infinite power would surely be discontent if the folk of the kingdom was the same of nowadays.

They were even banal enough to name one of the six gods, the god of earth, "God Emperor the Wall-Maker Thull" while his actual name was left for the upper echelons of the religious regime.

 _'The clowns here relearnt it from the Theocracy but refrained from using it and used that back kissing name since the name was too humane'_ after all, a name like Tonald Drump (the actual name in-game was xxxTonald_Drumpxxx) had no grace to it….

Although ruler caste of Slain Theocracy and Holy Kingdom knew the shared roots of their beliefs, the teachings and practices had gone far apart over the decades and one of the Six Gods have become completely different from the God Emperor-blah blah.

Berethur dropped his quill but kept playing with the nail and looked outside from his window.

The sea stretched as far as he could see towards every direction. If he were to raise in his seat he could see the waves beating the rocks before stopping a couple feet short of the walls of the church.

' _If the head priest were to see my past time activity, I would surely be whipped'_ he chuckled to himself. Though most of Holy Kingdom's folk, the Thanians, were believers of the God Emperor the Wall-Maker Thull, his church only believed in the primordial powers of the world which had been forgotten by the rest of the world with the introduction of the tiered magic system.

Of course it was actually his circle, which believed in the old powers. After the descent of the six gods all religious establishments in the Holy Kingdom were begun to be called churches. The old name "circle" have become inadequate to define his group and thus they also renamed themselves to a church.

His people weren't actually from the Holy Kingdom, they came to the lands from a cluster of tiny islands to the north west of the main continent decades ago. The islanders were tall people with stoic faces, a simple people of want and pride.

In the harsh environments of the cold and barren islands, islanders began to favor male children, while the females were either abandoned or were raised up under great difficulty to be married off immediately.

As the male population greatly exceeded the number of females on the islands, the young men were left in wanting. That is when the raids of the coasts of the continent begun, for women, riches and glory.

So did his Longship came to these lands and his ancestors claimed the westernmost part of the coastline as theirs and were assimilated into the Kingdom over time.

Though he wasn't as tall as the original comers, Berethur twenty-one years of age, was six feet two and was of a well-built stature. Years of scholarly pursuit however, has put him quite behind of the athletic feats of his fellow people. He was dexterous with his hands and had a natural talent towards magic and logic.

Since his early childhood his strongest trait was his intellect and will, that was why he felt home learning about old beliefs and powers such as the wild magic from the priests from the islands at the outskirts of their town. In this damp, dark and unexciting church.

He preferred it to the ass kissing of the god worshippers that never managed the go beyond tier 3 magic. Which made them useless in his eyes.

If you can't progress and learn more on the things you love, then why would those scholars of magic think that their presence is any worthwhile to the academia of sorcery?

The old magic system however, was untouched territory, even his seniors in the church were mere apprentices on the matter as there was still much to learn and not enough knowledge survived through the centuries.

He rose up and went to bed he knew he needed rest for his stronger traits to stay sharp.

Chapter 1

Berethur woke up to high a pitched scream. It was not usual to hear screams in the church and he was baffled, and sleepy. He forced himself to shook off his sleepiness and rose to his feet.

He waited for a couple seconds, listening carefully to hear what was happening out there. He glanced at his window, it was still night.

He assumed something has happened but it was hard to decide what he should do about it. The screams had vanished and he didn't know whether one of the priests had taken care of whatever accident that has happened.

He was compelled to stay in bed, but he knew some rituals of the church weren't "healthy" for humans, especially the ones concerning wild magic…

After couple seconds of contemplation, he pushed his room door open and walked out into a short corridor. He felt that something was amiss immediately as he couldn't feel anyone else in the church.

Concerned, Berethur went back into his room to grab his staff. The staff was made of thick hard wood, acted as a walking stick and weapon to shoo away the wild life more than channeling magic. The powers he has learnt about did not require him to use such items.

However, having it ready for the close quarters of the church made sense. He went through the corridor, down the spiraling stone stairs of the tower he was located in.

His room was on the upper side of the church observatory tower which had the library at its lower levels. He went down the spiraling stairs without leaving it for the books that donned the walls of this part of the tower.

He finally reached to first floor and turned towards the exit, he gasped as he saw half of a human body lying motionless just steps away from the tower exit. Hugging the bare stone floor. The light from the ever-burning candles gave the seen an even more ominous atmosphere.

It was one of the priests who he hasn't bothered learning his name. Priest's lower part was missing without any apparent marks of mutilation or burns. His head was resting on one cheek while his bald scalp was facing towards Berethur.

Half of him was gone without a trace, like it has never existed in the first place. But the organs and blood that spilled towards the closed door showed indeed, this man had his waist and legs at one point in life.

' _What the wild magical fuck has happened?'_ Berethur was not in a position to think calmly. ' _I guess a summon has gone wild and attacked the poor priest_ ' he thought.

 _'I don't know anything that can inflict such a wound but I better be extra careful about what to expect at the other side of the door._ ' Actually he was debating whether to open the exit or not. He was in his nightgown with a stick in hand.

Not the best equipment to fend of something that can deal such damage.

' _What worries me is that I don't feel anyone or anything on the other side, others would have heard the scream and I am sure the church should be in chaos'_ he paused thinking. ' _But I don't hear a single thing.'_

Although he was shocked, he knew that if anything was alive around him he would sense it, feel it… Berethur walked towards the door, skipping over the dead man and innards but failing to avoid the blood.

He grabbed the door handle and slowly opened the wooden door.

OooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO

Keep reading!


	2. Chapter 1 cont

Chapter 1 cont.

The demon slowly closed in on the small town, its wings were flapping fast because of the strong wind coming from the sea.

He was humming to himself one of Lord Demiurge's favorite melodies –the opening theme of Yggdrasil-.

He looked at the village that was below him now, then his eyes followed a thin road all the way to the large building sitting on the rocks.

He had casted [Invisibility] and various other anti-detection spells long before getting close to the human settlement so he wasn't doing anything to conceal himself as he hung over the village, looking intently on the building on the rocks.

He would gladly gut everyone in the town but he was here to merely observe the town folk. Lord Demiurge has heard that these people were somehow different in his interrogations in the Holy Kingdom.

That building however, resembling a temple of sorts was giving out a presence that he was very familiar with. A demonic presence…

After some contemplation, he decided to kidnap the folk of the temple. He would hit two birds with one stone, they needed parchments and information on the folk.

Both could be obtained in the 7th floor after he got them through the gate.

After Demiurge-sama hears his perfect execution, he was sure Demiurge-sama would let him play with a couple of the inhabitants –he hoped there was more than one-. Maybe he would even get a pat on the back from the Supreme One. Kehehehe, I will be his royal clown…

He laughed maniacally and bolted towards the building.

His Yggdrasil name was the Clown of the Dark Magician, a mid-tier demon that specialized in Yggdrasil offensive magic that ironically sounded like magic tricks besides the fact that they weren't tricks and just spells from 3rd to 8th tier that one way or another could inflict some sort of damage or de-buff.

For being around level 35 the clown had access to very powerful spells but it had terrible physical attack, physical defense and a limited mana pool.

The clown's sentience was exceptional for a mid-tier summon of his level thus he was chosen to be summoned by Demiurge for this small mission.

He could not teleport them straight to 7th Floor because of Nazarick's anti teleportation defenses.

"I shall teleport the sheep to ours spot with my implings then meself will disturb Demiurge-sama for the teleport to be arranged" the clown giggled to himself. It was hard to read what he was feeling because of the permanent smile on the clowns face. The smile went from one ear to the other.

He materialized a flamboyant looking golden scepter and casted his 7th tier spell, [Gimme Gimme]. 7th tier spell [Gimme Gimme] was a spell that teleported all mass except gear above epic tier and beings above level 30 in its area of effect to any pre-discovered location within a three-mile radius around the caster.

The spell channeled for a couple seconds… Then the building slowly begun to warp and distort, everything including the air, people, furniture and walls got sucked towards the center of the spell and vanished with a high pitched "pop".

One poor fella was right at the edge of the area of effect and got half of its body sucked by the spell. The rest fell down at the other side of a door which was now visible to the clown. He giggled as the body hit the stone with a pathetic puff.

' _Ooooooh well…_ '

He couldn't manage to put the whole building inside the AOE. One of the towers was still standing while rest of the building was replaced by a perfect semi-spherical crater. The wind fiercely filled the emptiness left by the spell. The strong wind closed the tower door with a bang.

He immediately touched to the mind of one of his imps. 'Have you gotten the sheep?' He thought. He was suddenly enraged by the imp's reply.

He miscalculated the teleport and materialized the whole mass twenty feet above the surface! The whole thing had crashed down killing everyone inside the church as well as three of his imps.

' _Jotunn shit!_ ' He had messed up. (Jotunn is the name given to the Giants that lived in Jotunheim)

What he did not know was that being a demon clown gave him a racial de-buff to its luck which caused the clown to make nasty accidents whenever it tried to use his powers.

He was perfect for scouting, but the moment he decided to do more, he guaranteed himself some of those nasty accidents.

The demon-clown was extremely agitated but his mood immediately lifted when he saw the tower door opening…

'Ah! There is one left. Honest to the Supreme Beings this one is coming with me and I will do the interrogation on the way back to my imps so I can show results to Demiurge-sama!' Elated, 'Guess you aren't going to be given to Guren this day me boy!' He dispelled the spell [Invisibility].

At the same times Berethur was having a second massive shock as he looked through the open door.

It was gone. ' _The church._ ' …' _What._ ' … ' _Where.'_ … ' _HOW?!'_ He tried to breath in.

Suddenly a wicked looking creature appeared couple meters above the crater. ' _Who.' … 'When.' … 'Fucking HOW?!'_ He tried to breath out.

The creature clapped his hands and forcefully nodded. The bells on its massive hat rang in ominous high pitched tones. _'How did I not hear those nasty things before?'_ He was slowly coming to terms with the situation.

' _So he was using stealth spells until now. He must be thorough for me to not detect him.'_ He examined the creature. _'Only thing that I can safely say is this ugly mother-plougher is related to what had transpired and thus it is powerful.'_

 _'If he is as strong as he is ugly, I am dead.'_ He thought depressed.

He decided to learn more and reason, since he couldn't figure out a way he can defeat such a monster. His nightgown was a regular nightgown, he had a wooden stick. And he doubted his magic could rival that being's.

"So mister, would you introduce yourself and maybe I can let you into my residence." He was hoping this thing had some restriction like some creatures were told to have, which did not let them enter a building without being let in.

It was silly to think while looking at the crater but 'One can only hope' He sighed.

Much to his dismay, the creature giggled.

"Oh young master, it is so great to see that you are ready to talk!" Clown was actually disappointed that this human was so easy to converse with.

' _Maybe I should interrogate him a little harder for this disappointment.'_ Clown clutched his scepter with one hand as he grabbed one of his toes with the other, giving a weird pose.

"I am but a servant of a humble lord, which is the servant of the Supreme Beings! You will be coming with me and we will enjoy our time together. That I promise my lord!" He declared.

' _Ok, now I know this thing is mental'_ Berethur's eyes looked back at the crater where they saw a rising figure.

' _Grendell!'_ Oh boy.

The Clown had lowered itself down to Berethur's level while still looking comfortable in his awkward

stance. The Clown was still contemplating what spell he should begin his combo with.

This was of great importance since he had to inflict damage but should not kill. _'Guess he don't need those limbs since we will be flying'_ he concluded.

It didn't realize the humongous humanoid rising from the crater.

The clown felt a thug on his free leg.

"Wha-"

He was kissing a part of the crater, or more like his head was lodged in to the dirt foundations of the building.

Then he was slammed to the other side.

The clown felt various parts of the crater as his body was brutally slammed left, right, left, right.

The slamming ceded when the body left the grabbed leg and flew lifelessly towards the sea. It fell short however, and slammed to the rocks. The featherless wings twitched one last time.

 _'OK.'_ Berethur thought. _'The nastiest thing in the air is dealt with by the nastiest thing on the ground.'_

Grendell in the meantime, paused to look why his hand felt lighter.

 _'Whagght?_ ' this one has left his leg and left. So soon!

"Grrrr." unsatisfied with the durability of his new toy, he began chewing on the leg instead. His eyes met the thoughtful eyes of the young man, still standing in the doorway.

OooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO

Since I have gotten some feedback, here is the rest of the first chapter. Thank you for reading!


	3. Chapter 2

Thank you for continuing to read the story. I know the first chapter was not the most satisfying, but I need to create a strong plot if I am going to be writing a fiction that is different from a "another supreme being" "Second comer" or "What Ainz going to do next" story. I am not saying those are bad topics, they are just easier to transition into and can have epic action much sooner. So I am only a little jelly.

Please let me know if you like how the story is turning up and if you find the current writing style satisfactory. I planned every chapter to be around 3k words.

OooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO

Chapter 2

Gems in Demiurge's eye sockets glowed dimly. The human was talking in a monotonous voice in front of him. A weak light was coming through the curtains as the sun crawled ever so slightly behind the other side of the continent. The light gently touched small parts of the room through the slits.

But the room remained mostly dark. The Major of the town was still talking and the shadow demons were still moving through the darkness of the room. Demiurge however, was unmoving.

He had been thinking about his summon. Redundant as it was, he had decided to check on some village at the very edge of the country. These people weren't originally from the continent, and their beliefs and culture was said to be different from other Thanians.

A relatively reclusive folk amongst the people of the Holy Kingdom.

To be frank, he was not at the slightest bit interested in the psychological and cultural phenomena of the folk of this country but he was in a mission for the benefit of Nazarick.

Every bit of information needed to be gathered. Ainz-sama himself regarded him as the most useful servant of the supreme beings and Nazarick.

Besides the instinctual joy he felt from serving the Supreme Beings, he couldn't help but feel a sadistic satisfaction from beating the other guardians in functionality and worthiness. Demiurge was a demon after all.

His intellectual prowess and tactical knowledge was one of the, if not the highest amongst the servant of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. But his wisdom…

Demiurge couldn't help but feel lacking to serve Lord Ainz when he was learning something new every second he has spent outside the tomb. It would be a sin to not find out useful knowledge and miss out on opportunities of servitude to the Supreme Beings.

 _'My summon is dead. The clown would have surely given Stronoff a hard time if the demon stayed in his reach. If not, the clown would have kill Stronoff without a sweat.'_

' _Then who… or what...?_ '

He hasn't observed any natural or magical phenomena that can kill a mid-tier summon in this world. Yggdrasil had locations that has noxious gasses coming out of the ground, grass that was sharp as a blade, frost storms that dealt massive frost damage overtime and many other naturally occurring hazards. This world so far however, had been one with very few hazardous phenomena. "Few" if you count the occasional flood by the heavy rain, or the low level cold effects one would experience in the mountains, as a health hazard.

For Demiurge and many much lower leveled inhabitants of Nazarick, this world had no natural dangers.

' _Now this is very interesting.'_ He smirked. Demiurge had already made his plans and was following his agenda but he had the means and intention to check on this new development.

' _It could be a monster, a player or strong adventurers. After all, a group of adamantite adventurers would most likely win against my summon with team work. Very intriguing indeed.'_

He raised his hand, [Summon Calamity Tier Demon, Devil's Advocate].

A lifeless blue fire that did not emit any light budded from the thick ground. The ground was covered in thick carpets but they did not catch fire. The fire slowly rose till it was about Demiurge's height.

A body slowly appeared from the flames. As the body materialized the fire slowly subsided. A man, as neatly dressed as the floor guardian took a step towards Demiurge and tilted his head to wait his summoner's decree.

His polished black shoes were so clean and sharp looking that the expensive carpets under his feet looked pixelated and dirty. He wore a black suit that fitted perfectly over his body. His shirt was buttoned to the top and fit tightly around his neck. On top of the neck a long and thin face stood that looked like marble. His skin did not reflect any light, it wouldn't even under the brightest summer sun. Every detail of his dress, his step, the tilt of his head seemed that it could not have not been executed better.

"I have pulled you out of hell Eddy. I wish for you to find something for me or someone."

"Please call me Edward Demiurge-sama. Yes, I will find whomever you want. What are the details of the case? What wrong has this thing or one did to my client?"

Demiurge giggled, "Someone or something have killed one of my summons. I want him to be found." He then explained the details.

Edward looked emptily at the ground.

"Surely, that wasn't all you have called me for Demiurge-sama. Devil-san can get into trouble while I am not there."

"Nazarick won't fail twice. You better get moving Eddy, the sooner you deal with this, the sooner you can go back to hell."

Edward nodded. He took out a suitcase from nowhere and vanished into thin air.

Berethur looked at the beast who had now sat at the slope of the crater. It lazily chewed on the leg.

Grendell was a towering humanoid around seven feet tall, very broad and muscular. Mostly bald, the monster once was covered in thick fur but now the fur seemed to randomly sprout over the humongous body in small patches.

Many wounds were visible in the bald spots, one arm was missing and now Berethur could see that there was a thin and wide piece of metal poking out from the point where the creature's skull and the neck connected.

 _'I recall being told that my grandfather had found the beast unconscious on the shores of our island.'_ Grendell then lived a hermit life on the island, his ancestors and the beast had a mutual understanding and not crossed each other's way.

But through time, the village seemed to take a liking to the poor beast and the beast had gotten used to the villagers. After their Longship discovered these lands and first of his people settled, his grandpa decided to bring the creature along with them. However, Berethur had never seen the beast himself.

Berethur was born at the village and then joined to the church as a scribe to write down the oral history of the islanders. In return, he was educated in both tiered magic and wild magic. 'Never took an interest on that senile monster.'

' _This is where they have kept him.'_ People of the church were some of the eldest of the community. It made sense that the creature would be with them. But he didn't get why he never heard of the thing throughout his time in the church.

He observed the figure. Grendell was very old, that he knew, but he did not have the wisdom of an ancient being. On the contrary, he was very dumb.

Berethur looked at Grendell's disinterest on what had transpired with a scowl. 'A "humble" Lord? Supreme being?'

 _'It all sounds very interesting and all but if you consider the damage dealt by that winged…demon(?), all of this mysterious stuff is extremely hazardous for human health.'_

' _I don't know what to do now. I need advice._ ' Both of his parents were dead from natural causes. All of his teachers, priests and a couple maids had gone missing, probably dead. He did not want to stay in this place, at all.

' _Maybe the village elder. At least he can help me deal with this big boy. Then who knows… I just need to keep myself together until I reach the village'... 'Easy'_ he thought sarcastically, realizing his body was drenched in sweat and for some reason his eyes were teary.

Berethur gulped and cleared his throat. _'I have to make sure Grendell stays here until I sort things out.'_ He paused to think how he could get the thing to understand him.

"Umm, hey! Stay here until I come back, will you?"

Grendell seemed to find the leg of sour taste since his permanently contorted face wore a scowl as he looked at the center of the crater.

' _This will be hard. I can't stay here anymore. I will just have to hope he won't walk away.'_

He ran backed to his room, puffing as he climbed the last couple steps of the spiraling staircase. 'Should have been more physically active.'

It took him couple minutes to take his essentials, clothes, oil, ink, quill, a small knife for skinning and his equipment used for dissection and carving. He left his small alchemy set since it was impossible to fit it in his pack.

' _This will do for now'_

On his way back he picked a book from the library and hurriedly shoved it in to his pack.

It was a relief to find Grendell sitting at its spot when he came back down. He put everything he scavenged from the room and tower behind the doorway. Berethur took care to avoid the blood.

He did not want the pack to be any close to the beast.

He walked past the crater.

"Wish me luck big boy."

He began running towards the village.

The cocks sang his arrival as he passed through the houses. The villagers were completely unaware of the bloody events that has transpired.

Berethur even doubted that they would realize five/sixths of the church was missing until it was noon. The mundane life of the village has made the villagers exceptionally dismissive of anything new, even before they registered its context.

The road towards the church was barren and ended up at the shore so the villagers had no one guarding this entrance. He brushed aside the gazes of a few early birds and moved onwards.

The houses of the village had piles of stone as foundation and the walls were made out of wood. The roofs were made of a mix of wood, tamed skin and straws. They were designed to stand diagonal to the shore so that the wind got cut by the corners of the house rather than bang on their windows and doors.

Berethur easily made his way to the center of the village.

In the center, a long-house stood. It was made just like the ones in the islands, the home of the village chief and the gathering place of the people.

When Berethur reached the long-house, he made a sharp turn to the right and went into one of the smallest houses in the vicinity. His eyes searched the interior, hoping to find a familiar figure. A pair of sharp looking eyes met his gaze from the other side of the house.

"I guess respect from the yung'uns is too much to ask when they don't even give you privacy, keheh." The voice was weak and the small laugh sounded like coughing.

"Something attacked us. Most of the Church is annihilated, only me and that beast Grendell remain. Rest are probably dead but I am not sure. I found only one…half a body. Grandma Helga, what should I do now?" (Helga isn't related to Berethur, it is like the saying gramps, just a custom.)

His panic was gradually rising since he left the remains and he was not going to delve into pleasantries. Even if he wasn't panicking, Berethur could not have wasted time when the threat was so big, and so real.

The elder did not speak so he started talking again.

"A monster has annihilated everyone along with most of the church. I did not sense or felt anything until I saw the destruction. Grendell somehow survived the spell that killed everyone and managed to kill the monster caster. But I doubt this is the end of it Grandma."

"I am concerned for myself, the village and Grendell."

' _Mostly about the village and I.'_

Helga blinked as she tried to register all that was dumped on her. Her body was feeble and weak as a result of the century and a quarter she had lived for. But her mind was still clear and still as a lake.

"Pick me up."

After pausing for a second Berethur knelt in front of her, his back facing the old woman. She slowly climbed and pulled his hair rather forcefully while doing so. She then pointed her hand towards the door. They exited the house and turned their faces towards the sea.

She forcefull pulled on his hair again and pointed through the door. They went inside again.

Berethur put Helga back to her place and waited the old woman's response.

"Thur, if they come again we can't deal with them. That monster you talked about should have woken the old man up so he killed him. But he is not of a nature to protect our village."

She continued,

"Letting others know what you have told me will only cause trouble for them. Thur, I want you to leave with the old man and never come back to this village again. You know, as much as I, that this place is not safe for you and this village is not safe with you in it; not anymore."

Berethur felt very awkward. There was a lump in his throat. Yesterday, he was a student and a script, now he was an exile. He didn't think anything would surprise him anymore, he hit rock bottom without doing anything wrong. However, the elder managed to still surprise and terrify him.

"Don't let your fate weigh on you Thur. You need to take the old man with you too when you leave. You do not know, but Grendell is much more than what meets the eye. I want you to visit the flying castle to the south of the continent."

She could not be serious… "You want me to take a seven-foot-tall and nearly as wide one armed giant, who looks like the worst nightmare of any human, and probably any other race; halfway through the world. All that, just to make a pilgrimage to one of the places that was owned by the so called god-like creature Greed Kings who helped festering the world with the tiered magic system!?"

"Yes."

' _Fuck.'_

She then reached towards a decrepit looking table and grabbed something. She gestured him to extend his hand, then put the item in his extended hand.

It was a weird looking ring.

"Put this ring on Grendell's finger. This is one of the things we took from him when he was first found unconscious on our shores back at the islands. It shrinks a giant into human size, a human into dwarf, and if you are a dwarf, POP she laugh/coughed you will disappear!"

"Just like that? And how will we be travelling? How am I going to convince him to not sit on his fat ass and then keep him moving for gods know how many miles?"

"You will manage, just don't let him grab you. His instincts kick in when he grabs something."

… _'Great.'_

"Thur." Her voice was quite menacing.

"I know you came to me for advice. You always were one that thought himself superior among other men. For this once do not scrutinize and just listen to your elders. I cannot understand what you have went through tonight. But I want you to flee, and I want you to flee to the floating castle."

His studies have come to a halt, homeless, unemployed and under threat.

"I will go Helga, but this isn't the first time I listened to your words you senile hag!"

He stormed out of the house and went to fetch Grendell. He was hurrying to avoid the villagers. Somehow, going back to Grendell and possibly die putting a ring on his finger sounded better than explaining everything a dozen times to the thick skulled village folk and their thicker skulled chief."

OooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO

There you go, Chapter 2. I have chosen to inspire from Nordic myth and Legends. It seemed appropriate. If you want to learn more about what could have transpired in the past for Grendell. I highly urge you to read the Nordic epic Beowulf and "Grendel" a novel by John Gardner. They won't be spoilers since I just inspired from them. Thank you for reading.


	4. Chapter 3

I went through my submitted chapters and found some grammar mistakes so I apologize for any frustration that those may have caused and still causing -because I am too lazy to fix them right now! -. I treat the chapters just like I would treat a college essay, written late at night and hurriedly submitted. Anyways if you still enjoyed the read, great!

As for the couple reviews I have gotten, thank you! It is always great to hear feedback since it allows me to look at what I have written in another perspective. Criticism, encouragement and comments are welcome. [Gimme Gimme] reviews!

About the OC replacement request, I can. However, currently I am only going to be dealing with this story. If I can make something out of this and begin posting less frequent, longer chapters, I may start a second replacement story with OC. Sadly, that is for the distant future since I am busy with real life stuff right now.

Grendell is sadly not gourmand :p

Also, some may think why the remaining imps of the clown did not report to Demiurge. They were the clown's summons. They died too, when the Clown was whooped by Grendell.

And for the last review, I award you for the most writer friendly review of the story my man! Thanks for the input. The MC stuff will be revealed in the future; a project I am working on since I have a lot to write about ancient/wild magic. But don't expect him to be op nor become op by getting stronger. Just wiser and more capable. Strong successful characters are satisfying to read about but we already got Ainz for that. I have thought about making thoughts Italic but was scared that it won't convert when I upload. I will try it with this chapter. See if you will like it better this way.

Since this has a lot of Demiurge related stuff, things will get ruthless and nasty. I won't go into detail for the sake of the story's rating but be prepared. Chapters with Edward in it won't be pretty.

Onwards with chapter 3.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Chapter 3

The sky was dark, the crater that replaced the church looked like a gateway to the abyss. A lone tower rose next to it.

Edward was standing on his suitcase up in the air. His passive ability [Night Sight] allowed him to see the scene as he was looking at it at noon. Besides the ones coming from the village, he did not sense anyone's presence.

There were smaller craters that vaguely resembled a humanoid shape at one side of the greater crater. If he was a regular demon, he would surely be amused after figuring out what took place, which he did figure, but he was devoid of such emotions.

' _The thing was standing there, he smashed the clown there, and there, and there and back to there, so on. A total of twelve times, is it? No, fourteen. The body… No, most of the body was then flung that way._ '

His eyes soon after found the barely visible corpse stuck in between the rocks.

' _And the rest was probably… eaten? at that side. The suspect is not human; the vague footprints are way too large for that to be the case. This is hard soil, it had gotten compressed and solidified by the weight of the building too, for footprints to be formed, the creature must be very heavy.'_

' _I can't see any footprints anywhere else. How strange, it can't still be here, so it either has wings, some way to reduce its weight, or can use teleportation magic. Tsk, what a bother.'_

Edward then turned his attention towards the tower.

' _My my, he was not alone.'_ Couple bloody and much smaller footprints were present near the door. _'Tall, male, was running.'_

The demon then proceeded to investigate the tower; took the remains of the corpse out and laid it on to the grass, made some arrangements for the transport of all books to Nazarick and reported to Demiurge. After sharing his findings with the floor guardian he exited the tower, stepped back onto his suitcase and took to the air.

'I may have to summon some tracker demons to get to them, but first I will make a visit to the village. It would be excellent if he has been there. It took me two days to fly here. If I know where or at least which direction they have gone, I won't be leaving devil-san without a lawyer for too long.'

….

Unbelievable! The church had left its place to a massive crater! The new condition of the church was found out around noon and nearly all of the villagers have gone to see the destruction. Everyone in the village, especially the chieftain had thoroughly scanned the site but no one cared for the lone tower that stood. It was the library wing and they did not care about books.

The villagers seldom visited the building since the church wasn't really a place of worship. When they did, it was the listen to the tales of the old from the priests. Now, they all wanted to visit the crater, it was massive! The priests were certainly dead after such destruction. Although they were saddened deeply, they were more curious to find what has actually transpired. However, the village elder had declared the grounds to be cursed and not to be touched.

Although the villagers were curious, they were scared from the ominous situation and the menacing elder Helga. She had declared that visiting the site had to be abstained from for at least a week before the villagers should sate their curiosity. So they scanned the area with their eyes from afar only. Helga's word carried great weight.

' _The more they touch, the more they know, the more they talk about it, the more they are in danger. If we don't poke our noses, it is more likely that we will be left alone. If everything Thur said was true, it is very likely that this supreme being worshipper lord will act to find out his servant's fate.'_

She wanted to think that Thur was lying but she had seen the damage under the morning sun when they got out of her house together. Now, what Thur said was to a degree confirmed.

' _I am the only one who knows his story. The lord will realize that the villagers know nothing even if it means the death of some. Maybe mine too, but the rest will be safe. No wise lord would waste his time in an insignificant village, while what he seeks is on the run.'_

Helga wanted to be sure but she couldn't. Resistance was futile, they had to wait until the storm passed on. _'I hope those two will be safe in their travels.'_

Nothing happened until the night of the second day after the discovery.

….

Edward looked at the village. All villagers except for six which guarded some roads were in their houses, sleeping. Truly, it was a pathetic sight. _'These people should be punished just for breathing. They would have been punished exactly for it in hell but this world is improperly lenient on its pathetic inhabitants.'_

He sighed, ' _Devil-san would have been horrified if he had seen how easy these ants are taking it here.'_

Edward carefully looked around the village. His eyes stopped in front of a small house next to the large building in the center of the village. 'I am devilishly lucky tonight.' He exhaled harder than usual, that was the closest Edward could get to a sinister laughter.

The mud on the ground had footprints very similar to those he found near the tower. 'Maybe I don't even need tracker demons; I am pretty good at this.'

He lowered himself to the ground, opened his suitcase to take out a smaller briefcase. The suitcase was an item (summons cannot drop their items as loot) that had many functions including fast travel via air and infinite storage. The briefcase however, was what he used for his profession. Every lawyer needed a trusty briefcase.

She was awake when Edward entered into her house.

Helga observed as a man in strange black and white attire came inside her house. It was night and she got poor eyes but Helga could still see the vague shape of the man's face and body from the moon light.

He closed the door behind him cutting the moonlight soon after. Now she could only see a pale oval for the face and a downward triangle for the shirt while the rest blended into the dark.

As Helga slowly came to her senses, she realized that she probably should have said something. After all, a stranger had entered into her house in the middle of the night without uttering a single word. But Helga just knew, that the man already knew her contact with Thur. What would it do to act ignorance. He had directly come to her house, didn't he?

"Is it only me that you have visited tonight sir?"

"I know that you have talked with the man from the tower. He came to you." His voice was rasp and nasal.

The man just walked over to the decrepit table and opened his suitcase. He was closer now so she could see what he was doing. He took out a short black stick and paper.

"This is a pen" Raising his hand with the black stick. "It works like a quill but does not need an inkwell. Now spare me your words woman and write everything you know on the paper. I will be utterly disappointed if you people can't even read and write."

Helga did know how to read and write.

' _If I say I can't he will surely try another way to make me talk. Maybe it is the best to just play along. I can most certainly write a very detailed and convincing story; if he wouldn't mind reading lies.'_

He put his briefcase in front of the sitting woman and put the pen and paper on top of it. The pen made a click noise before he put it on the briefcase.

"Write and don't waste my time, for every ten seconds of pause, I will kill one of the villagers. Believe it or not, it is pretty easy to kill them from over here."

Helga slowly picked up the pen and paper. _'He is not lying; I can sense it. Well, if he is that dangerous, might as well send him towards the Republic which in the opposite direction.'_

A piece of flesh hit one of her knees and dropped to her side.

"Ten seconds have passed." It was definitely less than that.

Helga moaned in sorrow as she realized it was a human heart. She could guess where he got it from, it was still beating. Blood spurted on his leg and thighs from every contraction.

A second after Helga hurriedly began writing, her head shook wildly by a pull on her ear. The top of the ear separated from the rest of the flesh and disappeared, letting blood trickle down. The pain was immense.

' _The pen…'_

"Write the truth, and only to truth. If not, you will be sending yourself to hell piece by piece; one lie at a time. Writing a dishonest testimony is a crime punishable by the court."

Thereafter Helga spent her worst night ever.

…..

Berethur and Grendell were on a boat. He had somehow managed to slip the ring on his pinky while he was slurping the bone marrow of the leg bones. It was funny how his pinky was raised like he was drinking from a wine glass as he sucked on the marrow.

After that everything had become very easy. Grendell was for some reason very happy about wearing the ring and followed him around like a puppy. His size had shrunk from seven feet to six feet and his width and girth were now in close to human proportions.

Berethur had put his cloak over him and lead the way to the nearest city to the south. He had rented a boat at the town and now both of them were in it, sailing along the shore to the biggest city in the south west, Rizette.

"If we stick to the shore and jump from city to city by using sea transport, it is highly likely that I can take you out of Holy Kingdom without getting unwanted attention." He was talking to Grendell out of boredom. The beast was just sitting under the cloak watching the sea.

His eyes went wide whenever he saw some moss floating or a fish.

"Then the hardest part will ensue. We can't shore-hop in unknown territory plus I can't resupply. We will have to go through beastmen territory and the orc settlements on foot. After that comes the dwarfs and elves. That won't be any less dangerous, given how stealthy elves are and how much the Theocracy have antagonized them against humans."

"But you know what Grendell, we can do it. I got the brains, and you… had the brawn." He was curious if the ring also affected Grendell's strength.

' _Whatever, I don't want to think anymore. Senile hag told me what to do, and I will exactly do that. I have to; I am going to be worse off mentally then Grendell otherwise.'_

"Want to learn about wild magic big boy?" Berethur opened the book he got from the library.

"It will be a long trip so I think I will school you on the most unfashionable magic currently existent on the continent." He smirked.

The book was written way before the Greed Kings or the Six Heroes, it was written by a powerful mage called Merlin Monroe around a thousand years ago. At least the dates on it suggested that. The book itself has not aged nor got dirty since it was written.

Berethur opened into the first few pages of the book. "You see Grendell, while tiered magic system relies on MP and magical attunement from the caster, wild magic requires neither."

"Wild magic requires life essence. To cast wild magic, you need to deconstruct and strip away power from a source. That is why most people believe wild magic requires sacrifices. Mostly correct but not the whole truth. For example, one can use his own essence to cast."

"That doesn't necessarily mean that the caster will sacrifice himself for the spell. The amount of life force to be taken can be controlled. One can hone his skills in such magic by practice, creating more favorable exchanges of life essence for magical power."

"Another difference is that tiered magic, besides silent casting, needs the user to utter the name of the spell, with sufficient MP and attunement, the spell will activate."

"For its unpopular counterpart however, you need to "speak" the spell. It is like another language but more analytical. You speak a command and the magic will work itself until the command is completed or the life essence is run out."

"That is one of the reasons why tiered magic has shadowed the other. Losing MP will eventually tire you out, but won't kill you. It is trading your innate talent for spells. However, if you command something that requires too much building material with wild magic, it will kill you or the source and the spell won't even take action."

"This however, is not the main reason why wild magic is a lost art. The reason it is lost is that because we do not know any source on the spoken language of wild magic. Those commands I talked about exists but no one knows. All we have are some volumes of Master Merlin's work, this book being one, that tweaks this fascinating language into written alphabet that we can't pronounce. And even from that we only get a tiny peak into written structure."

"Exactly Grendell!" Berethur said sarcastically.

"As you can tell now, wild magic is an art that is conducted solely in the written form! A spoken form for the foreign language could not be created. If you don't want to grab a quill and paper in the midst of a battle and scribble away furiously, you better not use wild magic, hahahah!"

"Haaaah" Berethur concluded his laughter with a sigh.

"If only we had all the books of Master Merlin in the library. If only someone spoke the god damn language of wild magic."

Berethur closed the book he has opened and put it next to him. He suddenly felt very sleepy.

Grendell had already dozed off. His chest rose and fell with each breath. Berethur sighed one more time and closed his eyes.

Next to him part of the book was under the shadow of the sail, while the sun shone brightly on the rest. One could make out the words "…asil Source Code."


	5. Chapter 4

I have begun to plan ahead for the story but I do not know the exact amount of time transpired between the end of volume 9 up to the end of the events of volume 11! As I have stated, I want my adventure to cross roads with Ainz at the end of the events of volume 11. For that to happen, I need to fit my story in a timeline that would make sense. So, if any of you have factual information OR can make a good estimate and explain me the logic behind it, I will use that time pocket to fit in the adventures of our current duo.

Also, I will be introducing character sheets for the prominent characters of the story.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

First Character Sheet~~

 **EDWARD MILFORD**

 **Devil's Advocate**

 **Job** Calamity (High-Tier, Rare) Tier Summon/ Best Lawyer in Hell

 **Residence** Hell/ Currently The New World

 **Allignment** Extreme Evil **Sense of Justice** -666

 **Racial Level** Human Fool: 10

Forsaken: 10

Artifice Devil: 10

Lost Soul: 5

Others

 **Job Level** Lawyer: 10

Telekinetic: 10

Advocate of Injustice: 5

Others

 **Racial Level** : 45 **Job Level** : 35 **Total Level** : 80

 **HP:** 70

 **MP:** 65

 **PHY. ATK:** 20

 **PHY. DEF:** 45

 **AGILITY:** 30

 **MAG. ATK:** 70

 **MAG. DEF:** 60

 **RESIST:** 90

 **SPECIAL:** 66.6

 **Background:** Edward Milford was a lawyer until he took a case where represented and defended the Devil (The Highest Ranked Non-Player Demon amongst the Demon races.). Even after seeing the truth he kept working for his client. The Devil awarded him in his twisted way; took his soul and filled his body with hundreds of soul stealers, giving him immense power. While his soul is with the Devil, his body writhing with demons, slaves away for the Devils deeds and for individuals who are mighty enough to call upon his aid. Edward will work forever for the Devil and the powerful.

Chapter 4

The trip was going better than expected, Berethur had enough money saved for them to keep skipping towns via water. They had changed their old boat for a cargo ship at Rizette.

Although they had to travel as cargo, the whole moving ordeal had gone much better than expected.

No one really asked questions as long as Berethur paid the sum plus Grendell's silence and cooperation had helped him tremendously in the cities.

After giving the cloaked Grendell a suspicious stare, the ship captain had agreed to drop them outside of the Luth peninsula which meant that now they were south of the Orc Settlements and southwest of the Dark Dwarf Country.

Berethur kept walking down the path, Grendell was two steps behind him chewing on some jerky he gave him earlier.

' _I wonder why they had not taken him out of the Church cellar for all those years… He seems like an easy-going fella. Provided you don't let him grab you.'_

They were now inside one of the small patches of trees and vegetation that went parallel to the sea shore. The trees were short and thick. The branches sprouted from the top and the tips of the branches hung out a couple meters away from the tree trunks. A breeze gave life to the vegetation as the plants slightly bent and rose as the soft wind willed. This area was isolated from the strong wings of the west and the cold air of the north.

The weather could even be called tropical. Berethur especially was having difficulty breathing and was feeling very sticky because of the oppressive and extremely humid air of the lands. Despite his discomfort, he was grateful that their trip could even be called enjoyable thus far.

' _From here, if we were to go south-east in a straight line, we would eventually reach the Floating City. But there are mountains perpendicular to the shore that would halt our advance. Those are the lands of the Dark-Dwarves. After passing them we will need go straight through the Elf Kingdom…'_

' _If we go east, then we may encounter beastmen and will brush the lands of the Orcs. Then we can make our way to the Floating city through the Theocracy, which is the safest country we may hope to pass from.'_

' _Both routes have their merits, the Eastern route will take a lot more to traverse.'_ He turned to the cloaked figure.

"Grendell, you wanna take a bigger risk and have the rest of the trip safe, or wanna go through not-so-safe lands all the way through?"

He paused to wait for his wise companion's insightful words.

Grendell ripped a nasty fart. "Hagh hagh!"

Berethur smiled bitterly and hoped the wind keeps blowing away from him.

"Thought so! I too don't want to spend weeks looking over my shoulder, nor freeze in an unknown mountain passage. I rather put my faith in hoping not to get eaten or brutally beaten and chopped to pieces. East it is."

…..

Edward was bunched on the ground, holding his gut that had spilled on the grassy ground. Demiurge look at the devil with a blank and apathetic face.

"I thought you said the mission was too easy for you Eddie…"

"Demiurge-sama if I had more time I can surely find whomever you seek!" Edward gasped.

Summons that were created without a host had limited time. The old woman had let go of her life than betraying the village or the duo. Moreover, Edward could not raise her since she resisted the resurrection. He then proceeded to charm everyone in the village but none else new, so he just killed them all.

Then, Edward had unleashed his tracker demons, but there were no trails to follow since those damned fools have used water transport. It had taken way too long to track them to Risette and that was his mistake. The time given to him to spend here had come to its end, so Edward had gone back and reported his failure to Demiurge.

"Why does it have to be the smallest and easiest requests that goes unsuccessful? The irony annoys me to no end, Edward."

He stepped on some of Edwards spilled intestines.

"There is another way Demiurge-sama!" He gasped.

"If you let me, as my summoner, to use one of my items, I can come back when certain conditions are met!"

"And how would that be Edward, are you telling me to still use you after you have not showed me any results?"

"Demiurge-sama, I have an item, called the cell-phone...Hngh…. If you let me give my number to some of your soul stealers, I can still work on the case!"

Demiurge paused. He had easily understood the demon's plan.

' _This is not a priority, and it actually seems like a decent plan. Amazing how some people are sharper under extreme stress.'_

"I have done part of my tasks in the Holy Kingdom, I will be travelling to the capital now. This topic has become a nuisance Edward. I expect you to be done with this before I am done in this Kingdom. If you do not show me results I might just ask permission from Ainz-sama to visit you in hell."

Demiurge stepped down from the intestines.

"YES, yes Demiurge-sama!"

The plan was to unleash soul stealers all over the proximity of the Holy Kingdom. These demon-parasites enter their victims body and live of their emotions. When a soul stealer got strong enough, it took over the hosts body and turn it into a forsaken.

However, for this mission, Edward was planning to use an item called cell-phone and the item's skill [Wish you were in my shoes]. The plan was for the soul stealers to infect hosts all over in the proximity of the Holy Kingdom and make the host use the item's skill to summon Edward back if the duo is sighted.

However, there were a couple conditions for the skill to take place. It used the MP of the previous summoner, who had to give consent which would be Demiurge.

And secondly, the caller had to be in mortal danger. That part the soul stealer would guarantee.

It was a good plan. Edward knew which direction the duo had went from his search in Rizette, he just did not have the time.

' _I learnt from a ship captain that they were dropped by the shores in close proximity to the beastmen, Orc settlements and the Dark Dwarves. I can give my number up to three hundred people. I can form a tight net and wait for the call in hell. The soul stealer hosts will urge their clans and towns to scout, they can't pass through lands they have never been in without piquing the attention of someone.'_

He mournfully looked at the slash on his suit. His wound had been healed but the clothes were still torn.

' _This was my favorite suit…'_

….

The city stood over rings of massive plateaus that elevated on top of each other. The walls and massive stone structures of the city were made of huge blocks of light pink stones. Sets of beautiful stalwart walls hugged each ring of the city to the very top. On the highest plateau stood the Lloyd Castle, the home of the Roble Holy Kingdom's ruling family.

While the castle had a ground entrance, to its east side the castle walls extended out over the plateau like a tongue poking out of a face. It was the landing point of the flying squads of the Kingdom. On the tip of the extension stood a beautiful woman donned in a full plate armor. Behind her were knights lined in a V formation.

Her armor was a deeper and darker shade of the color of the walls and blended into the colors of the dawning sun. Her helm let her golden hair run wildly behind her back down to her waist while her hand rested on the hilt of a shining sword. Her sword guard, the lunar steel shoulder plates and the helm had golden wings protruding from them.

She was the Valkyrie Knight of the Holy Kingdom.

The woman let her body fall down to the lower plateau that laid three hundred yards below her. Not long into her fall a silver blur met her and took her high into the sky. She and her Pegasus were soon followed by other riders that let their body fall and were met with by their rides.

This was the ceremony that replicated each Pegasus Knight's inauguration into the elite Lloyd knights of the Kingdom. The same procedure was done every time the knights left the capital on a mission. Their mission now was to observe an unusual gathering of savage orc tribes in the east.

While the orcs had grey skin color, the savages had green skin with red patches and were usually a couple times more aggressive than their shamanistic brethren. While the grey orcs lived in small settlements and lived of livestock and plants, the savages were thought to have primal beastmen blood mixed into their bloodlines, and usually lived in infertile mountain ranges where they constantly fought each other and feasted on goblins, smaller orcs and creatures of the mountains. Savage orcs pouring to the plains was concerning, but them gathering together without killing each other was even more concerning.

The far-sight casters have reported that the young horde have not made their move yet, but Joann was not going to wait for a move out. Her red lips curled into a smile as the wind rushed by her. It was her god given task to protect these lands, no beast or orc will break her conviction. Her troops flew towards the east, like they were charging towards the dawning sun. It truly was an inspiring sight. Some of the populace that saw the knights dropped what they were doing and cheered for their heroes' glory and prayed to the Wall-Maker Thull for their safe return.

The knights begun their two-day long journey towards the Wall, where they would rest and go onwards to complete their task.

…

Small flames begun to appear through the plains. It was dusk and torches were begun to be lit to welcome the upcoming night. The plains were full of large muscular figures that stood next to their equipment. Among the big figures lots of smaller ones were crawling around, goblins, hobgoblins, quagua and other smaller races were randomly picked by the orcs to take a bite from or to bully. While most of the Orcs prepared for the night, small fighting circles were formed all over for savages that still wanted to test their mettle through the night.

One could seldom see various sizes of tents scattered around to crowd. At westernmost frontier of the encampment stood a savage orc that dwarfed his brethren. His eyes were wide open and were scanning the plains as to seek one worthy for his axe. He reached to his side and effortlessly picked a quagua.

His lower jaw canines protruded between his lips and curled upwards. Small rings and etchings could be seen on these massive canines; such ornaments were the most respected amongst the Orcs. Most orcs had broken canines from constant fighting with their brethren and having these teeth unbroken was an Orc's display of might and power. In this case, not only the teeth were long and healthy, but a total of thirty-one rings and many small etchings could be seen on this warrior's tusks. If they were to grow any further, the teeth may have just begin blocking his vision.

The quagua was desperately clawing to the thick arm that held him but even its razor sharp claws could not penetrate deep enough into the orcs skin.

The orc did not see anything that was worth noticing and thus turned his wide back to the plains to get into the biggest tent the encampment had. He effortlessly tore of the head of the struggling quagua with his bare hands and held on to the body. He always liked to get a snack before going to sleep.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Sorry for the shorter chapter, there wasn't much to say in this one since this was the introduction to the arc of the journey.

As always, reviews are welcome!


	6. Chapter 5

Since coding languages, at least in the present are made of a mix of English, logic and punctuation; I have used ancient languages and my imagination for wild magic. Apparently, when the game became reality, all coding and commands have turned from stuff like java/python/c (or whatever they are using in the 22nd-23rd century) to ancient languages of the real world. So wild magic will be a mix of Nordic, Latin and Eastern languages. It is more fun to write this way xD.

Also throughout the story, you will see previously mentioned stuff to connect to the present and affect the future. For example, Berethur not avoiding the blood in chapter 1, Edward seeing the bloody foot prints in chapter 3, or the name of the peninsula and the people, info on races, descriptions of people may give foreshadowing for future events etc. So, if you are confused about terms and events, I advise you to check previous chapters. This will be how things will go in the future so be prepared.

As for the reviews, thank you for your kind words and interest. Things will get clearer as the story progresses. Hope I don't lose all your interest till then ;^)

Onwards.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Character Sheet~~

 **Berethur Konigen**

 **Scholar/Pilgrim**

 **Job** Scribe/Traveler

 **Race** Human (Islander): 1

 **Job Level** Scribe: 5

Sorcerer Adept: 5

Hidden Talent: 8

Never Lucky: 1

 **Racial Level:** 1 **Job Level:** 19 **Total Level:** 20

 **Background:** Berethur was born in the westernmost village of the Roble Holy Kingdom. He never could click with anyone since he was a small child. Giving up on social acceptance, he has given himself to the exploration of ancient magic and history. After his coming of age, he worked in a church as a scribe and got his education. Although never acknowledged, he has more potential and talent then most humans in the Holy Kingdom. With hard work and his talents, Berethur can succeed in any human society, but for some reason, he never gets lucky…

Chapter 5

Days passed one after the other. The duo kept walking towards east. Close to the shore, the area was humid and patched with small forests. In here however, the vegetation had turned into a dim golden yellow under the heat of the sun and the air had gotten a little bit dryer. They had walked slightly uphill for nearly a day now and golden hills rose before them.

' _I wonder what is behind those hills, the air is getting dryer and dryer as we move into the land. I have brought plenty of food with me, but water maybe a problem.'_

As always, Grendell followed him couple steps behind. Since they have left, he had tried to talk to him but he wasn't getting any responses besides grunts and stares.

' _Maybe he is a rare breed of beastmen… Or maybe an entirely different breed. He is aimless, I had felt bad because my people kept him in the cellar, but he doesn't really care where he is if he can sate his most basic needs.'_

Berethur had also begun to write more wild magic commands in his booklet. Since they were in beastmen territory, he felt the need to be prepared for the worst.

He had a very limited word pool in the language, and the grammar was still beyond him, but he could write basic things; such as [hyrr] which meant fire. By channeling enough energy, he could create a large burst of fire from his hands. Similarly, he could cast [confundamus] to confuse his enemies, or [kop] to tear flesh or even tore a limb.

' _I can switch between tiered magic and wild magic while fighting. Even if a beastman have resistance to spells, wild magic ignores any defenses that are meant to negate tiered magic. I just have to be careful so Grendell does not get hurt. I promised grandma Helga to take him to the floating castle.'_

Why couldn't she just advise him to hide somewhere and come back to the village later? Berethur was actually a little hurt from Helga banishing him from the village without hesitation.

' _I mean I am not the most fun guy to be around I guess. Never really clicked with anyone in the village nor the church. But sent on an exile is a bit excessive… Only conclusion I can come to is that Grendell going to the castle was of importance so she sent me with him. But that doesn't make any sense. She could have asked it before from any priest. I still have no clue…'_

Another voice in his head came to his aid, _'Is it really that important to know exactly what you are doing?'_ Berethur smirked _._

' _Why do we always look for some logic or irrefutable meaning behind our actions? Maybe the hag was in a bad mood since I barged into her house, hah. This journey feels good after losing most of my work, my job and my teachers so I will just see to the end of it.'_

Berethur and Grendell camped at the inland-facing side of a relatively flat hill. The area had many hills and small valleys. He wanted to get back to the plains before of getting lost in this labyrinth of hills.

After Grendell went to sleep, Berethur left their small camp. He had been feeling uncomfortable being in between hills with limited line of sight and decided to scout ahead before going to sleep.

' _I would feel like a fool if the beastmen slay us while we are snoring after I mentally prepared myself for all those engagement scenarios.'_

He had even stuck some of his surgical knives of his dissection kit on top of his walking stick to make it more deadly. After taking a deep breath, he walked forwards towards the hills that know blocked the settling sun.

' _I should keep to the sides of the hills, and walk not too close to the bottom and neither the top. If I just walk through the creeks and valleys, I won't see anything. But, if I walk to the top of the hills, then anything near can see me.'_

So he began walking. After five minutes of trying to walk in a straight-ish line, he turned left to make a semi-circle back to the camp. He hadn't seen anything noteworthy. Berethur traversed for a while more before coming face to face with an exceptionally rocky hill. It looked like a pile of stones put on top of each other and rose as high as his blonde brethren.

As he walked on the side of the rocky hill, an ugly head poked its face from the bottom and looked up straight to Berethur.

It took Berethur couple of seconds to notice the head that was looking him. When Berethur's eyes caught the observer, there were already multiple figures emerging from the bottom of the rock-hill. Berethur had to cross them to reach the encampment.

' _Fuuuuck… Rock trolls. I found a troll nest.'_

One of the trolls called to the other while making his way to the human,

"Hogg come 'er, you the best cook-troll. I found walking-meat!"

Besides Hogg, six other trolls came to get the walking-meat.

Berethur felt his sweat dropped. 'I can take on a troll but no human can fight seven trolls at once…'

So he ran in the opposite direction as fast as he could. The trolls followed suit with joyous cries.

"Look it isn't walking-meat, Bodo! It is running-meat! Can't tell wat prey is, that is why your name longer!"

"He mus' be the kind dat does both, he walking-meat AND running-meat, Hogg you troll-snot!"

Berethur was running as fast as he could, bitterly noticing he was putting a lot of distance between him and sleeping Grendell.

' _I don't know how I will go back even if I lost them. My luck is shit as always…'_ His untrained body was exhausted and his lungs felt like they were on fire.

Trolls did not let down the chase until Berethur found himself looking at plains again. He couldn't take a look ahead as he slipped and rolled down the hillside into some woods and thick grass. The trolls half ran, half slid down the steep hill-side and crowded around the hurt and exhausted man.

Berethur was coughing wildly on the ground, his head was fuzzy from all the rolling and he was bleeding lightly from the skin of his knees and elbows.

Trolls huffed and puffed, but everyone was very content with the results of the chase. The man was healthy with plenty of meat around the bones.

As Hogg bent down to grab Berethur, a large spear struck Bodo in between his eyes.

"Huh?" Hogg paused to look at what was happening.

The spear was thick with a blunt end which consequently did not went clear through the troll's head but smashed his face in instead.

Bodo shook with pain and covered his regenerating face.

Agonized troll threw himself to its knees as the other trolls prepared for battle. A dozen of large green figures bolted out of the woods screaming their war cries at the top of their lungs. Even the trolls were taken a back from their single minded charge.

It was not to fight, but to kill.

The trolls had clubs and stone daggers, while the orcs had spears, axes and over-sized machetes. Orcs were a little smaller than the trolls and did not have that stupendously fast regeneration, but they had better weapons and were all battle hardened warriors. Frankly, battle-hardened was an understatement. The savage orcs lived their whole life fighting; they were battle-born.

Trolls never really used their full strength against anything after the clan hierarchy was structured. But in the savage orc culture, the leader of the clan yesterday had to fight anyone who was strong enough to stand on their feet today in order to claim leadership until every orc went to sleep or went unconscious. The rest fought after the leader was picked for having the strongest she-orc or he-orc as mate, dominance, food and equipment. Only the biggest and baddest orcs could rally more than a hundred orcs around him and keep his place as the leader.

Unsurprisingly, the fight between the orcs and trolls was very one sided. Trolls' regeneration only caused them to suffer more before their souls were relieved from their bodies by repeated hits of massive but not very sharp orc weaponry.

As things settled down, orcs turned their attention to the unconscious human body on the ground. Berethur had been kicked around a couple of times during the battle and was knocked out. One of the orcs just rose her spear to kill the weak human but another orc intervened.

"No! 'Tis betta to bring 'im to war-chief Gallahad. 'E will tell us about gettin' to humans behind da wall, they got large cities. Large cities mean big battle."

The other nodded and smiled cruelly as she agreed with her male-orc. "Ya, tis betta."

The orc scouts tied Berethur up and made their way to the horde camp.

….

He woke up from his sleep. "Urrgh." His only hand scrubbed his eyes.

Grendell straightened himself up and looked around, the sun was still rising and everything around him stood still and silent. It felt much lonelier than when he always heard the steps of the priests from the basement. He enjoyed to be close to people. He did not smell the food that Berethur usually cooked nor he saw him anywhere near the camp.

' _?',_ Grendell thought.

He stood up to take a better look around. There was nothing around except the grass, some dry vegetation and him. Although he did not know why, Grendell was very happy to get that strange ring and he definitely enjoyed the constant change of scenery as he travelled with puny human. The companionship of the puny human was also very refreshing for him. So Grendell decided.

"Find man… gotta." His voice was deep and resonated in between the hills although he nearly whispered the words.

Without a second thought, he left everything at the spot and started walking towards a random direction.

…

The octagonal room was silent. Beautiful light pink stones made up both the floor and the walls while the ceiling rose a hundred yards high and was made up of pure light. Beautiful figures of men and women of tales were carved on the lower walls. Some of the accessories and eyes of the figures were made up of gems and valuable metals. In the middle of the room, an octagonal bronze pedestal stood.

Matella Mundi stared at her fellow to see his response while trying to gasp for air. Orello Federick was on his knees looking up to the pedestal. All other high ranking lords, caster-priests and warrior-monks that where present in the room where in utter shock.

After some commotion, all of them were one way or another led in this room, the heart of the Lloyd Castle where the God-Emperor's statue stood on a bronze pedestal.

Some of the most elite, powerful and influential men of the Kingdom rose their heads to see the miracle before them. Because this day, the statue was staring them back.

Whispers, gasps and sounds of knees dropping were all that was to be heard in the room.

' _I don't know what is going on but I can't believe a god that died in Theocracy lands to be in this room right now. But this oppressive feeling… Only a being like Thull can make the greatest of the Holy Kingdom shiver just by his presence.'_ Matella was one of the elder priests of the Lloyd castle's Church of Thull. She knew the history behind Thull and his immigration to the Theocracy lands after uniting and bringing peace to the Thanian lands. _'_

"Oh!" Some people exclaimed in excitement.

"God of the land has returned!" The others came to their own conclusions.

"The all mighty." Some recognized the power.

' _What will happen of the religious system? What will the royal family do? And most importantly, what will Thull or maybe the impostor… will do?'_ Matella and her colleague Orello were two of some that stayed silent.

But all could nothing but to acknowledge the immeasurable power and authority that emanated from the figure.

The figure was around six feet tree inches tall. Clad in golden armor with innumerable etchings and decorations, his left hand had a gauntlet that had fingers shaped like an eagle's claws while his right hand loosely held a dimly glowing golden sword. God Emperors glorious arsenal was of power and quality that none of the people in the room would have even imagined such might can emanate from items.

A below-average old wrinkled face, pursed lips that made the mouth look like dried dates, eyes that wore a scowl much like Grendell's, hair as patched as the shores the pilgrims have visited… Indeed, the God-Emperor was the one gazing back at his believers.

"I am The God-Emperor Wall-Maker Thull, from this day on we will do great things. It will be great. I have got great plans. I have left this world but through my power I have come back. Yes, I can do that."

' _God, what is with his way of talking?'_ Matella thought. Although most of the room was so captivated and entranced by the figure that Thull's every word sounded meaningful. ' _Why does he call himself Thull when that is what we named him after he had left?'_

"When I was gone, thought dead, I made connections. Everybody I talked liked me very much. It is called networking in business."

' _Business?'_

Lots of forceful nods replied to the God's insightful words.

The God Emperor raised his clawed arm and pointed at the ground. A man in a sharp looking orange suit, a mask and a metallic tale emerged at the spot.

"I have made great friends in my travels and brought my enemies to their knees. From now on, Jalbadaoth a demon that has been tamed by my will, will serve to our Kingdom's needs as I see fit."

The talk continued a bit longer before The God Emperor, his tamed-demon servant and an envoy of elites headed to the throne room. The royal family had to be informed by this greatest miracle of the gods immidiately!

…..

Demiurge was twitching under his mask throughout the whole conversation in the castle-heart.

' _Ainz-sama used Yggdrasil gold to summon the doppelganger, sad that his glorious, supreme wisdom and power is not contagious to mercenary summons. Using this braindead waste of levels to further my plans pains me greatly. Albeit this creature's short comings, I see a few faces that contains suspicion amongst the sheep.'_

Only then Demiurge felt he understood his master on this subject.

' _Oh I am being short sighted again. Ainz-sama of course knew how talentless the creature would be, it is natural he chose this shepherd, when the sheep are these people. True strength of a good deceit isn't in the act's ability to fool the planner, but its ability to fool its victims. This mercenary is perfect, just as expected of a Supreme Being's choice.'_

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

First Pandora's actor, now this one. Doppelgangers are pretty good at making their masters uncomfortable….


	7. Chapter 6

First, the reviews:

Thank you for your insight on the Overlord timeline alassandro. My story starts as the massacre of the Katze plains end, and as LN volume 9 concludes. I have asked on one of my previous chapters for an insight such as yours since I was not 100% sure about how long the arcs took. I am trying to write this part of the fiction in that 2-3 months (plus events of vol. 10 which I think do take around 1 or 2 months.) up until the end of 11, not the epilogue. The reason is that although we got a foreshadowing, we cannot confirm whether volume 12 will pick up from the epilogue or from the end of the volume (they have a whole year in between.) and build up to the events of the epilogue. Plus, I want to know more about how Nfirea finally opened up to Enri, the wedding and stuff. Ainz would probably be there for such an event.

Since the beginning, close to 2 weeks has passed in my story, so I "think" I got time in my hands but not as much as you have thought I think. If your info is correct however, my assumption that Demiurge asked for the doppelganger sooner is wrong. If Demiurge asked for the doppelganger in vol. 11 (which I will check once I get more time in my hands, it has been a while since I binge read all 11 volumes xD ), then I apologize for assuming he incorporated such a creature to his plans from the beginning. So, it is not that I just jumped to vol. 11, but assumed the shapeshifter had been utilized by Demiurge all along. I planned the story so that Demiurge puts his plans into action through the doppelganger and it would be cool if you guys go with the flow for now. If this is an unforgivable sin to the light novel and the community, I will try to tweak things a bit :) As always, let me know with a review. Again, great feedback man!

About the appearance of Platinum overlord ImStillSleepy, yes.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Character Sheet~~

 **Gallahad Tower-Tusk**

 **Biggest. Hardest. Baddest.**

 **Job** War-Chief of the Savage Orcs

 **Residence** Nameless Mountains/Plains, East of the Holy Kingdom

 **Racial Level** Savage Orc: 1

Big'un: 1

Unbreakable: 10

Awakened Heritage: 1

 **Job Level** Warrior: 10

Barbarian: 10

Axe Master: 5

Other

 **Racial Level:** 13 **Job Level:** 30 Total Level: 43

 **HP:** 70

 **MP:** 2

 **PHY. ATK:** 20

 **PHY. DEF:** 40

 **Agility:** 20

 **MAG. ATK:** 1

 **MAG. DEF:** 30

 **RESIST:** 60

 **SPECIAL:** 30

 **Background:** Gallahad got excommunicated by the savages of the Nameless Mountains as an orphan. Thrown into a frozen mountain pass, he was found by frost giants and raised on the peaks of the Nameless Mountains, unawares of the savage orcs who lived in the bowels of the mountain. He survived the harsh environment and the bullying of the giants thanks to his unnaturally sturdy bones. After he learned how to survive and gained strength, he forged his first axe. Gallahad killed most and enslaved the rest of the frost giants that raised him. He then set his eyes on those who abandoned him when he was weak and defenseless.

He made his way down into the mountains where he beat the CRAP out of every savage orc that stood in his way, until they all acknowledged his strength. Although he found the savages weak, he did not abandon them. Gallahad had achieved strength through fighting the strongest of the mountains, so he put his savages on the roads to pit them against the strongest of the world. Now he seeks the strongest opposition for his people to awaken their own savage heritages too.

Chapter 6

The scouting group arrived to the horde encampment. Warrior carrying the man threw him on the ground before entering so no orc would think he pays humans more respect than they deserve. The orc then grabbed one of the legs of the human and started dragging the body behind him.

The fall from six feet high onto the hard ground woke Berethur up from his peaceful sleep. Besides the splitting headache, Berethur felt the ground move beneath him. He realized that he was being dragged over the rough ground at a casual walk pace. The memories or his unfortunate encounter were slowly coming back to him. _'_ _I was running, then I fell down a hill. The trolls got to me, but then something attacked…'_

Covered in dust and bruises, he realized he was parched and sore. The sound of the footsteps all around him was mixing with hundreds of different noises. All had some level of aggressiveness to it while he could hear an occasional pleading scream. None of the voices sounded human. _'_ _What did I got myself into again.'_

Berethur thought back to the time when he decided to take the eastern route, _'_ _Risk of getting chopped to death and eaten, wasn't it? Ah, seemed so unlikely then.'_ For a reason he did not know, it felt peaceful to be dragged on the ground rather than made to walk. He doubted he could walk straight with the pain in his head, he suspected it was the result of a concussion he had at some point. As more thoughts came to him he involuntarily opened his eyes wide, _'_ _What will happen to Grendell if I die? What of my promise to gramps?'_

"Heh, human is comin' to his senses Ravi." Someone spoke to the orc dragging him.

 _'_ _An orc?! He doesn't look like the sedentary kind either…'_

The Savage orc dragging him glanced back for an instance in which their eyes met, then lost his interest and returned to looking ahead. Ravi fumed internally towards Gunta for making him pay attention to the pathetic human.

Gunta smiled devilishly then spoke to Berethur, "We don' usually keep weaklings alive, but you will be speakin' to the war-chief first; then you die." He felt like stating the human's faith so he does not get any funny ideas in his mind, or hope.

The human just looked up to the sky with empty eyes. _'_ _We got a dum one'_ Gunta thought.

On the other hand, Berethur had put his brain in high gear trying to devise a way to keep himself alive. _'_ _I wonder what I can provide to the muscle-head they call war-chief.'_ He briefly amused himself thinking about teaching wild magic to an orc.

Most of the equipment and provisions were in rugged bags next to their owners but only a few tents were visible. Quogua, goblins and other smaller races that were unknown to him were living amoung these green skinned orcs. From the duration he was dragged on the ground, Berethur figured that this was not a small camp but a horde encampment of hundreds of orcs and other races couple of times the number of the orcs.

They passed fighting circles, groups of thick skinned muscular orc warriors and goblins sharpening their weapons and quogua licking their claws. Everyone was readying for battle. _'_ _Wonder who they want to fight… There is nothing but planes and hills around here, and I doubt the divided beastmen are a worthy target for such an army.'_

Berethur's blood froze as he considered what would happen if the horde passed The Wall and poured into the Holy Kingdom. The Holy Kingdom stretched over an entire peninsula and could draft tens of thousands of men if the need arose. However, Berethur knew all too well that numbers can be very deceptive. He tried to imagine armed farmers and citizens fighting these hulking warriors. He sighed internally. Only thing he could imagine winning against these brutes were the elites of the kingdom and the Lloyd Castle Knights but Berethur never seen those troops. It was only natural when you lived at the edge of the country.

The group stopped in front of an extremely large tent. Hundreds of large beast hides were sewn together to create a blanket large enough to cover over the wood and bone skeleton of the tent. After the brief halt, only the one dragging him and the she-orc moved to enter the tent while the others waited outside. They immediately lowered their heads upon entering and the savage orc that dragged Berethur gave a good pull on his leg which threw him further into the tent for everyone to see.

The room was silent as the savage orc sitting cross legged on top of hides in the middle of the huge tent waited the human to make his move. Two she orcs laid next to him while a couple goblin and quogua skeletons piled in front of him.

First, Berethur looked ahead, he saw the biggest orc he has seen since he had arrived to the horde encampment. As he rose, his eyes searched the rest of the room. To the sides, gigantic humanoid figures sat, their once defiant, cruel and prideful eyes were extinguished of flames and were only filled with the hunger of a beast. _'_ _Are those ice giants?!'_

Gallahad looked at the fragile figure with disgust. The orc rose to his feet and approached Berethur. _'_ _He made Gallahad wait too long.'_ Ravi internally shook his head, this human had already failed to act like the lowly being he is and now made the war-chief rose from his seat, which never boded well.

The eight feet tall orc halted as a great boom froze everybody in their place, the ground shook violently beneath their feet and a shockwave soon followed that made the tent pillars crackle. After a brief pause the giant orc's eyes lit as he reached for his axe. Gallahad made a few gestures to the two orcs and then moved to exit the tent.

Ravi hurriedly pulled Berethur out of Gallahad's way as the massive orc walked pass them with a broad blood-thirsty smile. The two orcs dragged Berethur toward west, the exact opposite way the sound was heard.

…..

Junga had been trying to fight the maddening sounds in his head. He was pushed to the outermost circles of the encampment since he was found to be mentally unstable. Savage orcs did not find honor in his internal struggle, and saw only his weakness. There was no place for the weak in the horde.

It had been days since he was afflicted with voices that never ceased speaking in his head. The voices talked about torture and death, for savage orcs that lived to dominate and conquer, talks of vulnerability, weakness and defeat inflicted the gravest terror. The voices did not cease even when he went to sleep, instead they turned into images where he dreamt of his greatest fears coming down on him.

So he had quit sleeping now. His powerful body laid limp over his furs where his only movements were the occasional motion to wipe the gathering sweat from his forehead. The reddened sky was at least a soothing sight for the mad orc. He also thanked to the smaller members of the horde for keeping him sane by trying to kill him multiple times. If he did not have that stimuli, Junga would have nothing to divert his attention from his madness. As part of his dusk-time ritual, he prayed for his ancestor's support to drive away his un-living opposition.

Orc voices rose, showing interest excitement and amusement around him. Among the loud noises he could distinguish orcs talking about a human being captured by one of the scouting parties. For a second, he felt the voices in his head stop and listen just like he did. _'_ _The voices…'_ They had ceased… He felt free for the first time in days! The only thing that he was unaware was the fact that he had become a spectator through his own eyes now, nothing more.

He rose to learn more about the commotion. His feet directed him towards a fighting circle and he obliged. Feet carried him towards the nearest orc of the circle. Junga put his hand on the shoulder of the orc that had his back turned. The orc turned swiftly and looked Junga in the eyes. Orc scowled when he realized the only mentally ill orc of the horde had approached him.

"What you want crazed orc?"

Junga looked at the orc's condescending face, it did not take too much will power to lodge his fist in the unexpecting orc's face. The orcs head shook violently from the hit but the orcs boiling rage kept him afoot. Was he being challenged by the least savage orc of the horde?! What an embarrassment.

A split second later Junga was the one that got punched in the face while the crowd started to gather around the two. The two orcs jumped on each other and fell down on the ground, wrestling.

After an intense power struggle, Junga found himself on his back. The fist of the orc rose and fell on his chin, then on his eye, his cheek while Junga's hands tried the get a hold of the orcs neck. "Haaargh!" The orc screamed victoriously as he pummeled away on Junga's face. His vision was slowly blurring, he felt the pain from the orcs punches dulling and his body slowly relaxing. Then he heard a strange voice.

 _'_ _Brrring…'_

 _'_ _Brrring…'_

 _'_ _Br-'_ His world went dark.

The orc looked at the cold lifeless flames engulfing both of their bodies in astonishment. His face filled with terror as his flesh begun to crumble starting from the points that made contact with the mad orc's body. Under the baffled looks of the spectators two massive orc bodies crumbled and turned into dust one upon the other. In the middle of the crumbled pile, a smaller, slender figure rose.

…

Edward carefully fixed his outfit and swiped the dust off of his black and white suit. His unimpressed eyes scanned around him.

Orcs slowly came to their senses, noticing somehow this man had slain two of their comrades. Savage orcs were always harsh to each other but that was a privilege of attitude only given to other savages. No other race should demean, let alone murder a savage orc except for another savage.

This man was dangerous. _'_ _Worthy opposition.', 'Enemy.', 'Orc killer.', 'Magic trickster.'_

No matter what opinion the orcs had, they all decided on the same exact action. Battle cries roared all around the uninvited guest as every savage that saw him picked up their weapons and charged. The mountains of mass called the savage orcs single mindedly moved to eradicate whomever stood against them, that was the nature of the savage orcs. The switch in their mind was turned on and they would not stop until this pesky pile of goblin turd turned into meat paste. The smaller monsters followed suit.

Edward swung his briefcase, the briefcase smashed into the closest orc, breaking every bone it met in its trajectory and threw the savage orc back towards the other charging warriors. More and more orcs, goblins and quogua charged at him while Edward ducked and dodged, blocked with his suitcase, and retaliated. He did not have to dodge the smaller beasts since he was too high leveled to be damaged by them, orcs fared slightly better. Savage orcs were at least able to hit Edward but their weapons bounced harmlessly from his dress like it was made of adamantite and not cloth. The main reason why Edward dodged the blows was that he was disgusted from the idea of these creatures touching him.

 _'_ _This went on long enough'_ , [Objection!]

Edward gave himself some breathing room by using his job class specific 6th tier spell [Objection!]. The air flickered and expanded throwing all beasts backwards like ragdolls to create a transparent colorless bubble that kept everything thirty feet away from the demon. [Fly] Edward rose thirty feet high to check where he exactly was. Although he knew why the soul stealer activated his item, he did not know where exactly he was or why he was in the middle of this pathetic encampment…

 _'_ _Well, it would be awfully hard to find a human in the midst of this horde of snot colored barbarians. I need to whittle the numbers just a tad bit.'_ His mouth slightly bent upwards, a sign that he was actually grinning wildly inside. He breathed in the stench of the horde just to give him some extra spiritual drive in his methodic extermination, then activated his Special, [I am the Judge, the Jury and the Executioner].

Air around him crackled with immense amount of MP while streams of dark blue energy was radiating from his body. Slowly, the energy materialized to create the massive form of a judge. The astral exoskeleton stood thirty feet high from the ground and Edward took position inside its mid-section. His special, [I am the Judge, Jury and Executioner] was an enhancement ability that rivalled the power of a super tier spell.

The Special created an astral body that imitated the movements of Edward, which had physical attack stat equal to the summation of Edward's magic attack and physical attack stats (In astral form Edward has MAG ATK of 0 and PHYS ATK of 90). Furthermore, all strikes of the astral body generated AOE telekinetic blasts that equaled the power of the 8th tier spell [Telekinetic Blast]. After activating his special, Edward could fight toe to toe with a level 100 warrior for the duration of the skill. The only down side was that the skill consumed his MP to create the body. Thus, he had to supply any magical energy dissipated back to the astral body to keep the skill going. This created problems versus high level spell casters that may kite and dissipate the body faster than he can regenerate.

Edward scanned the perimeter with the radar ability [Detect Race] to make sure the human was not around. Astral form raised both hands, in which a gigantic hammer materialized. [Hammer fall]. The hammer fell on to the planet's surface like a comet. At the moment of contact, telekinetic blast activated; the stacked abilities rose the soil and stone like a splash of water that blanketed everything within a ninety meters' radius and showered the ground with it for nearly a kilometer in radius.

….

The knights felt the massive surge of energy coming from ahead. Yet the Pegasus flew forward.

Joann instinctively grabbed the hilt of his sacred blade. Since they left The Wall, she had been feeling uneasy. A dubious feeling had crept in her that she had left the Holy Kingdom vulnerable. Now however, she felt that whatever that laid before her was as important as what she had left behind.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Critiques are welcome!


	8. Chapter 7

About the reviews;

One of the reasons why I write about what I do, is because there are already 11 volumes of great story-telling about the greatness of Nazarick and the power discrepancy between the new-comers and the old inhabitants of the new world. I do think fanfictions about Ainz or other player characters ring truer to the essence of omnipotence that overlord LN emanates, however, I do also think adventures of Nazarick would taste better if we put more soul and background into the new world inhabitants, and races… not only a couple prominent characters.

About the shortness of chapters, sadly, I am not someone who wrote anything besides scientific reports and one page summary analyses until now. Therefore, it is a real struggle for me to even write chapters as long as these are while resisting the urge to put everything in one page.

Yes, Joann of Arc was an inspiration in naming the Valkyrie Knight but it is not a replica.

About the quogua, they are indeed sensitive to sunlight, but they did move along with the orcs down to the plains by the sheer force of will that Gallahad has. He is very powerful compared to most New World creatures. With his incredibly rough life and thorough battle experience, he can even give a member of the Pleiades a tough time. However, defeating one is impossible for him because Gallahad does not have access to powerful gear that Peleiades members have.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Character Sheet~~

 **Joann -CloudRider- Noel Claus**

 **Former Area Guardian / Presently the guardian of the Roble Holy Kingdom**

 **Job** Leader of the Lloyd knights/ Guardian of the Holy Kingdom

 **Residence** Lloyd Castle

 **Allignment** Neutral **Sense of Justice** 50

 **Racial Level** Elemental 1

Sylph 5

 **Job Level** Shapeshifter 10

Valkyrie / Sword 10

Air Bender 10

Bond with Nature 5

Other

 **Racial Level:** 6 **Job Level:** 50 **Total Level:** 56

 **HP:** 30

 **MP:** 40

 **PHY. ATK:** 30

 **PHY. DEF:** 90

 **AGILITY:** 45

 **MAG. ATK:** 25

 **MAG. DEF:** 80

 **RESIST:** 40

 **SPECIAL:** 30

Background: Not much is known about Joann Noel Claus's past before she came to the Holy Kingdom. When the beastmen befell on the eastern lands and broke Holy Kingdom's connection with the rest of humanity, the God-Emperor's keepsake "Joann" appeared in the Holy Kingdom. A knight sworn to protect humanity, she secured the lands and garrisoned The Wall to protect Luth Peninsula. She was given the title Valkyrie Knight because of her mount Hyperion the Pegasus. She founded the Lloyd Knights with the support of the ruling family and the good graces of the church. Because of her efforts, The Holy Kingdom is one of the safest lands from the demi-human threat. The terrorism in the lands has been shut down to such a degree that there is little to no prejudice left towards the minority races of the Holy Kingdom.

Personality wise, Joann is a champion of indifference and stubbornness. Her life seems to be guided by Thull's orders that were probably given hundreds of years ago to this ancient lady. Although it is very likely that she is older than six hundred years of age, Joann is stronger than the strongest man, more powerful than the mightiest mage and more beautiful than the fairest maiden. By Roble's elite, Joann is seen as the treasure of humanity, and the last remaining companion of the six gods on the New World –Thull specifically in this case-. For unknown reasons, the arrival and origins of the Valkyrie Knight was and is intentionally being kept as an inner circle secret. The people and foreign nations know her as the newest Valkyrie Knight whom are always picked from young blond women.

Chapter 7

Joann was flabbergasted by the scene that transpired before her. Her vision was far superior to her knights' who probably could only see the vaguest features of the encampment and a tiny blue dot within the large clouds of dust rising in the distance.

Her eyes however, saw the dark blue giant purely made of malicious magic laying waste to the savage orc encampment. The beast stood thirty feet tall, his robes and curly pale blue hair that fell on its shoulders fluttered with each swing from his huge hammer. Rock and soil splashed in large waves every time its hammer swung downwards. Giant was methodically making its way towards the westernmost part of the encampment, killing and destroying everything before him.

' _Is that… The Corrupt Judge!? Most powerful of Edward's Special creations…'_ Edward was a notorious summon that could only be summoned by some of the most powerful beings of Yggdrasil. Furthermore, this terrible summon required an arch-devil to bring him from the depths of Hell. Since his supreme lord left her in this land as a guardian of humanity, Joann had not seen such a powerful entity walking the surface of the world.

The implications of this discovery was immense. _'The Kingdom…No, everything that breaths are in danger! Even if I release all my restrictions, I can't go toe to toe with Edward. I don't even know where or what his summoner is up to.'_ Her eyes caught the figure of a human who was being dragged by two orcs out of the encampment towards a small hill. _'They are probably securing the prisoner and taking high ground in order to see what is happening at the other side. I won't leave him at the hands of these savages and definitely not at the hands of Edward.'_

"Helkel, take the knights and secure the human that has been captured by the savages. Then put some distance between you and the camp." Although they were travelling through the air at high speeds, a medallion that every knight wore enabled them to talk to each other within a mile radius as they were talking face to face.

"Yes Lady Joann!" Helkel yelled towards his medallion in his most zealous and obedient tone although he hasn't had the slightest clue what she was talking about. He knew however, that Lady Joann's senses were far superior to any human's, thus he believed that they will come across an imprisoned human up ahead. The lady's words were the final decree on any subject for the Lloyd knights. Not only was she the personification of the perfect beauty, she was mighty, intelligent and had an extremely strong will. Among the treasures that were left behind by Thull, she was the most treasured for the elites and the knights of Lloyd. For the common folk however, she was only the beautiful leader of the Lloyd Knights and the strongest warrior of the Roble Holy Kingdom.

Joann sighed internally, no matter how many times she requested from the knights to call her just Joann, their opinion of her was so high that none of them stopped calling her "Lady Joann" or the more uncomfortable "My Lady". Although the difference in might and knowledge between her and her knights was immense, she preferred being around equals rather than her comrades looking up to her.

' _I will have to check if there are any other demons besides Edward when I get close enough especially the arch-devil that had to have summoned him. If he is alone, I have to face him and learn more before going back to Roble. Even if I have the smallest chance to learn more on what have brought the evilest filth of Hell to this world. Hope the knights will keep their distance, I don't want any of them to die here, this grim dusk.'_

She flew her Pegasus closer to Helkel's. "Catch."

Helkel immediately turned and rose his hands to catch whatever she was throwing, without fail _. 'You would catch even a fire bomb if I said so wouldn't you...'_

She threw a small statue to him. "Hold onto it."

The knights moved onwards.

….

Edward was satisfied with the destruction he had inflicted. _'The Judge part of the skill, check. Now I can bring the jury and the executioners…'_

[I am the Judge, the jury, and the executioner] was a powerful special and much like super-tier spells such as [Shub-Niggurath], contained both destruction and creation in its domain. Similar to necromancers, high-tier demons were also very potent conjurers. The difference however, was that while necromancers used corpses as hosts for powerful souls, demonic conjuring used souls to fill artificial soulless bodies.

[Hammer Fall] has killed around eighty orcs and over hundred and fifty of the other races. The released souls were then forced to fill the last part of Edward's special. More blue energy emanated from the artifice devil. Some of it turned into a wooden high-lobby. The only difference of this lobby from the ones you could find in courthouses was that a dozen crackling wooden legs were coming out under it. On its rows two dozen low level caster imps wearing suits stood. The rest of the energy created two mid-tier level 30 demons, the executioners. Both had a cloth wrapped around their heads with two dark holes where the eyes should be. One was a thin and tall figure with a scythe, it had two wooden sticks poking out down from the stubs underneath its knees. The other was massive and fat, his legs were intact but two large blades were attached where his forearms and hands should have been. The executioners ran ahead while the jury and Edward followed at a slower pace, methodically destroying the camp.

Once war-like orcs and the bloodthirsty beasts were running for their lives. Although savage orcs always strived to fight against stronger opponents, it wouldn't be a "fight" if they were to face this opposition.

Gallahad made his way through the camp. Bangs that sounded in the distance grew louder and the tremors became more pronounced. The dust clouds from the explosion had carried over and were all around him now. Despite his lowered vision, Gallahad could see beasts and orcs fleeing away from ground zero. Orcs that ran passed him had faces of confusion and terror. He however, was not the type to be affected by the tendencies of the crowds and moved hastily in the opposite direction.

Besides being the biggest, hardest and baddest savage there is, one of Gallahad's overlooked traits was his distinguished wisdom. Although he was utterly cruel towards the weak, there had not been a single instance where he had not taken a fight seriously. He was a warrior and though not his opponents, Gallahad respected his profession. Whatever he may fight this night, his will would not be bent by horrors nor would he underestimate the enemy.

Suddenly, the air around him grew morbid while screams and desperate pleas filled his ears. He could see two silhouettes etched on the dust clouds by the light of the stars. Sun had finally settled down. His hands tightened around his axe and his feet planted themselves on the ground, Gallahad knew that there was a very difficult battle that awaited him.

The silhouettes turned into shapes of two monstrosities that mowed through whatever was before them at the pace of a mad sprint, unlike Gallahad, the creatures did not cease their advance as they grow closer and closer to the mightiest savage orc.

"HAAAAARRGH!"

Gallahad screamed a war-cry as he faced them with his own charge. The two sides clashed in the middle of the terror ridden encampment.

….

There was no time for preparations nor ceremonies, the throne room was full with the elites in their daily attires. Adlai grabbed the sides of his throne _. 'What will this mean for the future? The sole reason Roble has such a powerful centralized government instead of a feudal system is because Joann's efforts.'_

Roble never had nobles since the day Joann had appeared, instead, an upper echelon called elites existed. These individuals were picked from all over Roble to represent the different regions of the Holy Kingdom.

Although local managers such as majors and governors existed, they were waged by the King and were not allowed to take from the local populace. This way, the independence of local governing bodies was limited. However, no king would have accomplished such a system without an extremely powerful central legislative and judicial power. With the presence of Joann and the power of the elites centralized in the capital city, no local governor would imagine to cross the will of the King. Not in an apparent manner at the least.

In simpler words, King Adlai Ademus Magnifique the 3rd was content with the current stability of the Holy Kingdom. He had absolute power over an entire peninsula. Only thing that rivalled his influence was the Church but since the founding of the Kingdom, Church stayed as a separate entity and did not involve in country politics _. 'However…'_

' _With the arrival of the very God that founded the Kingdom, it is inevitable for religion and politics to intertwine with each-other.'_ Furthermore, Adlai felt that his role and devotion for these lands will become obsolete very rapidly. _'I wonder what will Lady Joann say about this miracle…'_ The King really hoped this being donning the appearance God-Emperor Wall Maker Thull to be an impostor.

' _If such a thing was the case, surely the wisest and the most powerful of Roble would notice that something was off, and how about that pet demon? Had Thull turned demons into pets back in the day too? I don't remember such a thing in any of the annals I have read…'_

Adlai just couldn't wrap his head around the how, what and why of the situation so the King decided to go with the flow, for now.

' _I hope my grandson Helkel is making me proud on his first mission. He had been training his whole life with other knight recruits to become what he had admired the most since his childhood.'_ The king let go of his warmer thoughts as four royal guards moved to open the large doors leading to the throne room. Each pair of knights grabbed one door wing from its elegant hinges and regally opened the massive and intricately decorated wooden doors.

The wings opened slowly to represent the rest of the elites lead by a man in a suit, and the Emperor Thull himself.

Adlai grabbed his throne tighter.

…

Berethur kept on being dragged until the trio reached to the top of a hill. _'This is my chance; I HAVE to get back to Grendell.'_ For him, the idea of failure and not holding his promise was enough to make him feel nauseous. Although he was really roughed up, he had plenty of time to gather his strength. The other reason he wanted to kick it was that Berethur felt there was a connection between the commotion and the destruction of his Church _. 'I wonder if such chaos is happening all over the lands…'_

Berethur shook the redundant thoughts out of his head and focused on the present. The orcs did not even bother to bind his hands and feet since they thought he was extremely weak. Berethur licked his lips and mentally prepared himself while the orcs were staring at the camp dumb-founded.

One of his hands touched to the small booklet attached to his hip with a chain. _'I have to be fast and true to make this happen. These orcs killed trolls and I can't see a scratch on either of them.'_ Everything after that point happened very quickly.

He started by whispering [confundamus] towards the she-orc. There were no observable effects and him jabbering would not pique the attention of the other orc. However, the next thing Berethur did certainly made Ravi to pay attention to him. [Kop] Berethur aimed at the Achilles tendon of the orc, the skin, thendon and muscle alike tore from their attached point which made the savage orc fall over to his side.

Ravi did not know what to think. An immense pain had struck him just above his feet for an unknown reason but it did not take long for him to associate it to the human they had captured. He violently spun around simultaneously readying his axe. But the human had moved out of arms reach and his leg would not let him stand on it. His hateful glare briefly concentrated on Berethur before he turned to look at the she orc who was looking at him with a blank stare. It seemed like his she-mate's brain had not registered what had transpired yet.

"[Hyrr]"

The moment he turned his head back to Berethur a ball of flame smashed him straight in the face, then his vision went dark.

Berethur felt dizzy executing the last blow to the male-orc. He turned to the female. _'I really don't want to do this, but I can't risk anyone following me.'_ He was pretty mad at the duo since they were the ones that turned the situation into what it currently was. The savage orc just stared at him as blankly as she did to her fellow. At the final moments, a small light of realization could be seen in her eyes but it was too late.

"[Glacies]"

Shards of ice lodged themselves to her neck and the savage orc slowly dropped to the ground.

Berethur sighed in relief. _'I will never do this again, ever.'_ Although his work and his Church had bloody practices such as killing animals for anatomy lessons, or killing hare for food, it was way different than killing these orcs. Many people were alienated from other races to the point where slaughtering them was regarded as normal. Berethur however, was a scholar and his profession made him emphasize and try to understand things that were foreign to him. It didn't take him long to see that although barbaric, these people had a culture and therefore, for the lack of a better word, had "humanity".

' _Well, I will have to back track to the hills. I hope Grendell has waited for me.'_

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Critiques are welcome!

edit: found some grammar mistakes and edited them. My bad.


	9. Chapter 8

I am posting this so I won't be skipping on posting a chapter. However, I have three exams this week and I am only done with one of them. I will post a very long chapter after I am done with my academic stuff this week. I apologize.

After I am done with Pilgrimage, I will be writing the second part under a different name. It will still be a continuation and it will be about -Can't disclose at this point- and Nazarick, it will make a lot of people happy I think. If you would like me to change or improve on anything, let me know before things get too intense.

ImStillSleepy, indeed my man!

Six gods may had come to NW alone or with guilds.

Only some may had come with guild-bases.

Some of them maybe players while some maybe NPCs

It is also a possibility that they came here with part of their NPCs and not with their entire guild.

And possibilities go on and on...

Since LN doesn't say anything about it so far, it gives me the absolute power of bullshitting :^).

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Chapter 8

Joann looked at her sword. Humility was the name of the beautiful weapon. Its blade sprouted from the hilt like a silver leaf. It was thinner near its hilt and slightly thicker further away, the sharp edges concluded about thirty-two inches away from the winged hilt. Besides the fact that the sword was a craftsmanship masterpiece, its real power was in its enchantments.

Humility was a rare drop from the raid-boss Seraph Aesphere Amesha Spenta of the Angelic Domains of Yggdrasil. A level 100 + 10(Raid boss bonus) only available in game at the conclusion of the lunar calendar. Humility was a divine item that enabled their wielder to go back to any point in his or her level progression in 10 level increments. If the wielder of humility gets hit by anything that meant instant-kill for them, the spell breaks and the wielder returns to their actual level, taking their previous health as true damage.

Thus, Humility was a very valuable item for PKers as well as 1v1 tournaments. PKers used it to bait other players and 1v1 lovers used it to negate devastating attacks or instant-kill spells. Due to this powerful ability, Humility's stats were a bit lower than other divine-tier swords.

Joann had the sword in her hand as she approached Edward. She flew his Pegasus right in front of the blue giant, completely disregarding the full-fledged chaos beneath her. The Jury flung dozens of low tier spells towards the Valkyrie as she approached. Despite the aggression, Joann knew the Corrupt Judge was the only threat for her. 'I wonder how that crazed orc fared against the executioners…' She had flown past a vicious battle between a brave orc and the two executioners. If things weren't the way they were, she would have stopped and watched that engagement.

Joann pointed her sword towards the projectiles, "[Karma]". The spells flung at the Valkyrie returned to their owners, burning, blasting and melting the imps on the lobby. She hung in the air out of the reach of the Corrupt Judge's hammer. _'Hm, if I call Edward by his name that would surely give away that I am not from this world… I guess I will play the role of the righteous Knight.'_

"Halt monster! Tell me who you are and what an otherworldly aberration like yourself doing here!"

Edward had seen the group of knights coming from the west _'Are these the ones I am searching for? No… They don't add up. Just interferences.'_. He mumbled [Delay Teleportation] under his breath as he amusedly watched one of the flying knights approach to him. He couldn't help but say "Ohoh" when the knight actually deflected the rain of spells and destroyed The Jury simultaneously.

Edward looked at the knight with intrigued eyes while she was speaking. Whatever she was saying, he did not listen. _'Is it actually possible for these ants to cast 7_ _th_ _tier spell [Karma]? Maybe there are exceptions to humans after all… If this knighty survives this, I may find her worthy for interrogation~'_ The Judge stepped forward and swung his hammer towards the Valkyrie.

The Pegasus started backing before the hammer even picked up speed. _'Hmph, keep underestimating us.'_ Joann scowled. Just as the hammer passed through the empty air, the Pegasus made a sharp dive towards the ground.

[Feather Companion], Joann briefly made Hyperion weigh as much as a feather.

The instant its hoofs touched the ground, the winged horse launched itself towards the lower part of the blue giant like a bullet. _'There is no way he can intercept my strike now!' Joann readied Humility._

Much to her surprise, The Judge completely forgo using the hammer and threw an off-balance kick towards the Pegasus. Joann managed to avoid the kick in the nick of time and retreated.

' _Ha, this one is definitely worth an interrogation. But it is going to be hard to capture her alive in this form…'_ Edward looked blankly towards Joann who was now trying to flank the giant. Edward playfully swung a couple more times before he remembered the actual reason why he came to these ugly lands.

' _To concentrate is indeed a challenging matter when you are dealing with a bug infestation and a hornet buzzing next to your ear. Guess it can't be helped, I can't use snares in this form and this girly is dodging regular swings like a pro. I should play my cards so we "may" meet in the future huhuhu…'_

"Do you want to know who I am?" Edward followed the knight circling around him with his eyes. He saw the Valkyrie's curiosity as Edward caught her eyes under the visor.

"I am Edward Milford, pleased to make your acquaintance young lady~." Edward felt his inner sadism flare up as his piercing nasal voice reached to the knight's ears. "Why don't you be a doll and survive? Also keep any new friends you make close if you will." Joann squinted her eyes to the words of the demon.

' _See you later darling.'_ The judge faced Joann and opened its mouth. The mouth opened well beyond the structural capabilities of a jaw.

[Judgement], a beam of pure magical energy bursted from The Judge's mouth.

 _Joann looked at the open mouth with concern 'I can't dodge, this is one of the skills called "Point and Click". I can't afford to be taken alive, or to die here and leave the Kingdom significantly weakened. Sorry Helkel…'_ She put her last resort plan to action.

The beam of pure energy smashed into the duo and went straight through. Edward watched with a disappointed look as the remaining parts of his opponent disintegrated into thin air. Edward made a "tsk" as only crackling air and dust remained. _'I need to hurry, wouldn't want the remaining flies to flock on the duo I am searching for.'_

…..

' _This should be the prisoner Lady Joann was talking about, despite the fact that he isn't really a prisoner anymore…'_

He and the rest of the knights had seen how the man in the ragged robes made short work of the savage orcs. "A capable sorcerer it is then." Helkel muttered.

The knights landed around the confused man. Helkel immediately spoke up to calm the man down.

"Fear not, we have no intention to harm you sorcerer. We were ordered to take you with us and retreat from the camp until the Lady rendezvous with us." Without giving the man anytime to respond, one of the knights just grabbed the poor man and put him on his steed like a sack of potatoes.

' _Wait, what? How did I not notice a flock of Pegasus knights, THE Pegasus knights! These are definitely the Lloyd Knights of the Lloyd Castle! And what is with this timing, I was so close to going back and searching for Grendell. Furthermore, this is fluking emberassing!'_ He wanted to say something but his chest pushed hard against the saddle as the beast took flight. All air in his lungs left his body before he can utter a word.

For the rest of the retreat, Berethur was just going in and out of consciousness. Although one may think flying on a Pegasus is like gliding peacefully through the air, that was certainly not the case. The air raced around the rider and threatened to push him off with each flap of the Pegasus's powerful wings. Moreover, while the Pegasus dove low or rose high into the air, considerable amounts of g force was applied to the rider, and the poor passenger in this case. Riding such a powerful beast needed considerable practice for regular humans and a powerful physique; sadly, Berethur had neither.

The group slowed down when Helkel broke formation and bulleted forward towards the direction of The Wall. Or was it Helkel?

"Lady Joann?! What happened to Helkel?"

"When did Lady Joann caught up with us?"

"Helkel was Lady Joann all along!"

Different exclamations came forth from the riders. In the end, the whole group picked up pace to catch up with their leader, leaving everything else behind.

…

It had been a while since Gallahad had commenced in an engagement versus the most difficult opponents he had met in his entire life. Every single muscle in Gallahad's body was putting their all to his every move.

Gallahad side stepped the charge of the large demon and smashed his axe into the clothed face. The axe promptly dropped every single tooth on the demon's upper jaw into his mouth but could not cut through the enchanted cloth. While the big fat one was stunned Gallahad turned at lightning speed to deflect a hurricane of scythe swings. He caught the scythe with the curve of his axe mid swing and pulled the demon off balance. He followed with a side kick which sent the demon flying through the air while utilizing the twist of his body to smash his axe onto the head of the fat demon.

The downward smash lodged the axe along with the cloth into the skull of the fat demon and the legs of the demon gave away.

"Raaargh!" The scythe-wielding demon closed the distance between the two in a split second and swung down his scythe.

Gallahad threw himself into the radius of the swing and managed to only got hit by the wooden midsection. He then proceeded to grab the scythe and pull the demon to himself. His brute force and iron grip did not allow the screeching demon to run away. After he took the dust off the demons face-wrap with his knuckles using violent punches, Gallahad smashed its face into the other head of his axe. Now the demons were looking like two priests praying as both sides of the axe were bitten into both of the demons' heads.

Gallahad was exhausted and bleeding, but still gave his all into his victorious roar. After all, he had beaten the doom incarnate. Creatures of sadism and cruelty that did not adhere to any code. Gallahad, the war-chief, the most savage of the savage orcs had shown the mettle of his kind and of himself. He smiled wildly as he looked into his art, his chest rapidly rising and falling.

Then the darkness of the night got a little darker. His smile froze on his lips, which would have twisted into a bitter frown if it weren't frozen in place. _'I was mistaken, I Gallahad, have lost.'_ He turned around to gaze upon the blue giant looking down on him.

….

"…and we should not allow citizenship to be given to anyone other than the people of Roble. Not dwarves, not elves, not halflings nor gnomes, demihumans and definitely not heteromorphs. The people, humans belong to the Roble Holy Kingdom, I will make Roble great again!"

Some of the elites were actually not human whom had concerned looks in their faces. They had just been excommunicated but did not know what they were supposed to do now.

"Trade is not sufficient as it is, solely being an internal affair. We will expand, and reclaim our rightful territories in order to establish connection with other nations. The sanctity and purity of our nation will then be the guideline and standard for every great nation across the world!"

' _We will openly antagonize the beastmen? That would unite the warring clans…'_

' _Dictating a new life style for the people of Roble is a tremendous affair by itself, will we actively try to assimilate the inner-affairs of other countries? Roble is a peaceful and passive nation of farmers and craftsmen; how will it work, what does this mean for Roble?'_

More of the elites were confused and concerned of the additional tasks that were put on the shoulders of themselves and the people.

"Permanent enlistment will be conducted to create a permanently active military force. The industry and manufacturing within the country will be centralized and restructured in order to meet the demand for weapons, transportation and infrastructure."

'An open war effort!' All the elites were heated up, angry, joyful, confused, scared, zealous.

"You have lived for hundreds of years under the security of my creations, throughout this time you have worshipped your rightful god but has not taken any action to spread my efforts! People of Roble, repay your debts and seize your future!"

' _It is worse than I have thought. No one can stand against him and he is right… This kingdom owes its existence to him.'_ King Adlai was going between despair and acceptance. Throughout his lengthy speech, The God-Emperor had talked about many topics but never touched the subject of administration or his current rule over the kingdom. It was like he had never been the king and Thull had never left. _'I can't even gather the heart to open my mouth… Even if I speak, what will I say? He hasn't said anything about methodology or actual planning, just talked about long term goals and how sorry the current state of the Kingdom is…Obviously Thull doesn't deem any of us worthy of the inner machinations of his plans…'_ He wondered what could possibly make his night worse.

' _Ah, an undeniable offer. Sometimes, if you cannot stop something from happening, you should try your best to enjoy it; my dear king. Ripples, no, massive waves are forming; centering this very room. We will stand against everything that the Sorcerous Kingdom stands for, an antithesis. I don't need everyone in this room to be loyal to the effort, Ainz-sama wants to take over the world and the stars peacefully and that is what I will oppose, for only him can put a plan, a standard so high that all beings can only wish to comprehend. Eventually, a duality strong enough will be formed from which a new way of life can arise.'_

Demiurge guided the doppelganger through the nitty gritty via [Massage].

'I have to let Joann know! Only she can make sense of this, that woman who has worked tirelessly to preserve the way of life of the people. How can the creator and the creation be so different? But before that, I want to know Joann's opinion on this "new" Thull, and that silent devious demon.'

Matella Mundi left the room at the earliest convenience to [Message] the Valkyrie Knight.


	10. Chapter 9

After half-assedly working for his mid-terms, your boy has returned to post the promised "long" chapter! :^) Well, extra 600 words is pretty dang long ~

Reviews first,

Dear Guest, I apologize for the wait. Working, vacation and socializing wouldn't let me geek.

Thank you for your positive critique .true! It is always good to hear feedback that is both logical, encouraging and funny.

As for the other people who has read, let me know what you think. This does take time and effort so naturally I don't want to produce something that is subpar with my time. Reader feedback is always good to read and improve upon, positive or negative.

onwards with chapter 9!

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Character Sheet~~

 **Emmy Golden Globe aka. Eggy**

 **Mercenary Summon / Presently Impersonating Tonald Drump aka. The God Emperor Thull**

 **Job** Useful Mercenary for Clearing High Level Jotunheimr Dungeons / Impersonator

 **Residence** NA / Lloyd Castle

 **Allignment** Evil **Sense of Justice** -100

 **Racial Level** Doppelganger 15

Mimic 5

Other

 **Job Level** Pantomime 10

Bone Crusher / Adamantite 15

Other

 **Racial Level:** 30 **Job Level:** 40 **Total Level:** 70

 **HP:** 70

 **MP:** 60

 **PHY. ATK:** 40 (Adaptable)

 **PHY. DEF:** 30 (Adaptable)

 **AGILITY:** 50 (Adaptable)

 **MAG. ATK:** 10

 **MAG. DEF:** 30

 **RESIST:** 30 (Adaptable) **  
**

 **SPECIAL:** 70

 **Background:** Emmy Golden Globe was a mercenary summon in Yggdrasil who can still be summoned in the New World due to the parallel transition of many of the virtual game's properties. Eggy was a mercenary summon who came with a Christmas DLC for Yggdrasil. Like many rare mercenaries, the naming was done more for the laughs than for game immersiveness, referring to some awards given in the age of filming, television and theatre; before the introduction of fully immersive virtual reality.

Just like any other race, doppelgangers vary in their traits. Doppelgangers such as Pandora's Actor can turn themselves into any other character, being able to match their strength 80% at max level. These doppelgangers are more versatile in their art compared to racially specialized doppelgangers like Eggy. In conjunction with the Christmas theme, Eggy was optimized for some dungeons in Jotunheimr. With his pantomime ability, this mercenary was able to protect players from flash frost storms and was able to detect fake walls in the dungeons. Eggy is also a physically optimized doppelganger whom could deal significant damage to Jotunns that had extremely high MAG. DEF.. However, also due to the pantomime ability, Eggy is subpar in speech related actions.

Chapter 9

It had been more than half an hour since she had begun to retreat with her knights.

"Kelram, are we being followed?"

The knight at the other end of the medallion paused for a bit before answering.

"No my Lady!"

Kelram was a dark-skinned Lloyd Knight coming from the southernmost region of Roble. He was blessed with a special talent that gave him an impressively keen sixth sense. Since the knighthood was formed, Kelram had not once turned out to be incorrect. Joann had come to trust this knight's talent more than her own scrying abilities.

"We are landing, five-hundred feet ahead, loose V formation."

The elephant-sized horses landed graciously on the rough ground making a large V over the bumpy terrain.

"Let the man down Hawken, you should have at least let him sit upright. He looks worse than when I saw him being dragged by those orcs."

The big knight immediately unmounted, took the man off the horse and laid him down.

Hawken lightly patted the man's cheek, "Aye, you are saved from the orcs friend! We will take you back to humanity once we… well, you rest and Lady Joann asks you a few questions."

It took couple seconds for the sorcerer to start moving again. After a few clumsy moves the sorcerer launched himself forward onto his hands and knees and started puking. At least tried to but nothing came out since apparently the man's stomach was empty.

Watery eyed from gagging, Berethur sat on his butt and looked gloomily at the knights. _'I killed the orcs just so I could leave but getting rid of these guys is nowhere as simple… Knights with their honor codes and forced charities can be more thick skulled and stubborn than villagers and using force is out of the question.'_

His somber thoughts vanished when he noticed the approaching knight. While other knights looked like they were silver statues, the captain of the knights wore a dark-pink metal armor with numerous engravings. Golden wings protruded from pale, opaque shoulder plates and the helm of the knight. While there may had been more to her gear, Berethur found himself looking at the face and the golden hair flowing under the helm. The visor was raised so even though the sun has settled, he could see the two warm brown eyes looking carefully at him.

As the rumors said, the captain of the Lloyd Knights was a woman looking to be in her mid-twenties. She had slightly thick brown eyebrows and an elegant but strong facial structure that gave character to her face. Her lips were red and full, provocative enough for Berethur to lose all sense of responsibility. She seemed to glide more than walk while she approached him despite the heavy plate-armor.

' _Fuck it, I always wanted to see the capital.'_ He sighed. _'After spending a dozen days looking at Grendell's hideous face, I think I have become shamefully weak… getting acquainted with orcs did not help either. Probably she likes Thull worshippers… I am his biggest fan, right?_

He took in the beauty of the woman approaching him.

…

"Joann? Hear me this is very urgent…"

Although her mind was full of questions about the encounter and what this man was about, Joann stopped to listen to Matella Mundi; a wise elite of the inner circle.

"Emperor Thull has made his return Joann, and he is unlike what you have told us…Accompanied by a demon he has enslaved, tonight Lord Thull has claimed his right as the ruler of Roble!"

"Impossible!" The knights were taken aback from the sudden outburst. Joann breathed deeply and pushed her hands into her sides to prevent them from shaking. One woe after the other, Joann felt the cruel irony of life for the first time.

" _Oh, only he knows how long I have grieved after I felt him leaving this world… Only my beloved God could have beaten death itself, albeit I can't make myself believe that when I have seen what I had tonight."_ The existence of Edward, an arch-demon and what Matella has said to her made a painful picture together.

Joann felt her shock replaced by rage as she thought more about it.

"Master Scryer of the inner circle, Matella; please tell me everything you know, and do NOT spare me of any details."

Matella abided.

' _Fake, fake, fake, fake, fake! None can enslave a supreme being! That pathetic demon is using some sort of impostor! I have protected these lands as it was the last wish Tonald-sama has given to me before his departure.'_

Via message: "Matella, lend me your eyes."

Much like everyone in the upper echelons of Roble, Matella also had an innate talent. She could exchange sight with another person disregarding distance as long as the duo were connected by some sort of magic. [Message] did the work in this case.

Matella, miles away from the Valkyrie, rushed back to the throne room. She slipped through the open doorway and let her gaze rest on the picturesque events that were taking place.

Joann saw the ramrod straight demon looking to the throne as King Adlai rose from his seat. Her heart started to pound as Matella's vision focused on Thull. The God Emperor approached to the throne and seated himself as "King" Adlai took to the side of the throne. Rest of the room were prostrating towards the throne.

Joann took a deep breath to calm herself, _'Wonder if it works through this connection: [Detect: Life Essence] [Detect: Mana Essence] [Comparison].'_ She perked up as the spells took effect.

' _No, this can't be right… A lvl 100 Arch-Demon and a lvl 70 Doppelganger! Could this demon be a player?! Regardless, I am no match for them even if I have the whole Roble supporting me. If I return, I doubt they will let me avoid them, being the praised Valkyrie knight. Shit!'_

Joann felt like she was being squeezed by a giant's grip, she felt her eyes tear up as she felt utterly powerless for the first time. Her people had been deceived over night while she was hunting rumors.

'Calm down Joann, there would not have been anything that I could have done if I was in Roble when those vermin descended on my people. Perhaps me being out of the city can work out for me. I have leads and some time, I won't let Tonald-sama's legacy be sullied by false supreme beings!'

'Joann, are you still there? Are you seeing this?' Matella's concerned whisper echoed in her head.

' _Yes. Matella, you don't understand how grateful I am to you for contacting me as soon as possible. You have my thanks.'_ Matella was silent. She curiously waited for Joann's assessment. _'You are gazing on a false god, master scryer; but as things are, I want you to be silent with this information. While that is not our God, it is not a regular human. None in that room can, or together defeat those charlatans. Stay put until I [Message] you again and protect our people till I arrive. The one you should worry about is the demon.'_

Matella breathlessly listened to the Valkyrie Knight as her worst-case scenarios were confirmed one by one. She realized a little too late that the demon was gazing at her. The eyes were not visible through the mask, but the face was turned towards her and she could feel the wicked gaze of the being down to her bones.

' _Shit, I forgot to prostrate! I don't even want to think how my face must have looked like all that time… Just how much suspicion did I arose from this demon?'_

She immediately closed the connection and throw her down into prostration. Matella took a deep breath, _'Thull, give me strength.'_

….

Edward's words flooded into Joann's mind, _'…keep any new friends you make close if you will…'_

'Does this sorcerer have anything to do with the subjugation of Roble? [Life Essence]. Surprisingly capable for a commoner. Suspicious.'

Berethur watched as the lovely woman started to approach him again after the long pause with deep concern. Before she had a concerned and caring look on her face, but now her face was contorted and full of animosity.

' _What the fuck went wrong again?'_

"Greeti-"

"[Charm]. Tell me your story."

Berethur felt like he was pushed underwater. His body went numb and his mind dazed while his mouth began to speak involuntarily. _'Huh, am I in a dream?'_ Berethur stared at the eyes of the Valkyrie while loud mumbling sounds coming from his mouth echoed in his brain.

The guy's eyes went blank as the spell took effect. For an hour and a half, including his origins, the man talked about his journey from the westernmost village of Roble to the Eastern Plains with details down to his sleep schedule. Joann's expression went soft as she listened to the oblivious man's story while occasional uh-oh! Sounds were coming from the other knights. His name was Berethur, a citizen of Roble. However, she started scowling again after hearing about wild magic and Grendell. Their journey was basically an impromptu pilgrimage to the floating castle. Though she wondered how they could by-pass the protective enchantments of Eryuentiu*.

' _So he was not alone. It is not far-fetched to assume this duo has a lot of importance to the charlatans. Although Berethur is a capable wizard for human standards and his wild magic is something I have never seen, he does not have information or power that can interest a level 100 arch-demon. On the other hand, this Grendell seems to be able to totally annihilate a level 35 summon without breaking a sweat. I need to find him too, then maybe, I can understand why this duo is being tracked by a monster like Edward.'_

' _So many unanswered questions…why are these two trying to get to the former capital of the Eight Greed Kings anyways? Is the Arch-demon a player? It has got to be… as far as I know all beings of Yggdrasil that are created by players came along with the players, just like that impostor coming along with the demon, right? I know there were many who played the game, but not all had the dedication to reach the highest peaks of power. Maybe they are both players… or they are both creations… no, that is absurd, that would mean there is a chance there is more of them somewhere else! I don't even want to think about it. One thing I am sure of is that there may be many players, but there is only ONE Supreme Being. Tonald Drump-sama!'_

Joann had decided.

"Kelram, Hawken you will stay with me. Rest of you will be returning to The Wall. Wait there for two days, then move onwards to the capital. We have completed our mission but I want to look into this case for a bit longer. Helkel has fallen, please report our loss to King Adlai. I will write my report and then you are good to go."

The knights lowered their heads with the official declaration of the death of an order member. "Yes, Lady Joann!"

Joann quickly wrote a summary of their discoveries, excluding her suspicions. She would have preferred to omit Edward from her report all together but she was sure that damned demon would report to his summoner. Joann then released her spell on Berethur.

"Sorry Berethur, but I had to make sure. These are times in which we can't spend time on pleasantries."

The sitting man slowly rose to his feet and gathered himself. He seemed to be in his early twenties.

"How do you know my name?" Berethur looked at the knight with questioning eyes.

"Ah, I will tell you along the way. We will be looking for your friend now, that is what you wish, isn't it?"

"Wait, how do you know about…?"

"As I said, along the way. We will ride the Pegasus but won't take flight until we reach the hills. I suggest you prepare yourself for that mentally until then." She jumped onto her Pegasus and extended her arm for Berethur. After a brief moment of confusion, Berethur took on the invitation.

….

"Shame, they are gone."

Edward looked around the ruins of the encampment. He calmly opened his suitcase and brought out a type-writer from the depths of it. The suitcase hung hip level in mid-air as Edward prepped and placed the typewriter on top of it.

' _Dear Demiurge-sama,_

 _Although I know that you are very busy and cannot be bothered with petty side-missions, allow me to bother you with my first report on my job. The duo is sighted in the Eastern Plains near an orc encampment. I have dealt with the fauna of the area accordingly. More intriguingly, I have come into contact with two rather exceptional individuals. One is observed to be a knight of the Valkyrie class and a savage orc warrior. Since they are very rare specimens, I did not use excessive force against them while there is a chance the knight was disintegrated due to "unfortunate" circumstances. The company of the Valkyrie is likely to have possession off, or have information on the duo I am tracking. I will narrow the intelligence net accordingly._

 _Regards,_

 _Edward Milford'_

He gazed at his side where a large body was laying down. Gallahad was breathing deeply but weakly. The orc had tried his best to fight but Edward had spanked him around like a naughty child. His face looked like a carriage crash while the orc's body was full of bruises.

' _To think I would be so kind to dispel the Judge so I can go easy on him…I guess being away from Devil-san for so long made me a softy. I even did him a favor and ripped those ugly tusks out of his mouth, now he looks more like a man than a beast.'_

He glanced back to his watch. _'Until next time.'_ The demon vanished into the swooshing wind.

…..

Gallahad remained on the ground long after the monster was gone. Beaten and his tusks ripped; no savage would not have let go off his life. But that monster did not give him the release of death and Gallahad was not one that even thinks of ending his own life. Now, only thing he could do was to live on with his shame.

He would have screamed his frustration into the night, but Gallahad kept his lips pursed so the holes where his magnificent tusks once were did not show. His grief and anger poured inward as he laid on his side. The horde was scattered. There was no way he would go back to the mountains and rally the savages back looking the way he is. His silent contemplation cut short by sloppy footsteps. Gallahad rose to his feet, brimming with anger and embarrassment. He would rather die than let someone see him this vulnerable.

Since he wasn't dying, the only option was to kill.

"Rgh, you seen… small man?"

Gallahad just moved towards the stocky figure.

…...

He was in the fanciest guest room in the castle with Eggy. It was very amusing how the elites commenced into a guessing game on what a "God" do when it is not doing its divine work. Some of the nobles were half expecting them to rose to the heavens then come back the next day. However, the sharper tools in the shed did act to prepare a room for the duo. Although some urged them to stay in the castle temple, Demiurge directed Eggy to choose one of the castle's guest rooms instead.

Eggy had said "I do not have worldly needs. But during my time amongst my people, it is my wish to be regarded as your leader, not your god. I will take the night off just like you so prepare me one of your guest rooms."

Demiurge gave himself a moment to reflect.

The doppelganger was seated as the Emperor of the sheep. He had deliberately let Adlai hold onto the title "King" in order to smoothen the possible backlash he may cause. The elites did not hold any land and their power solely came from their title and position. After the night-long affairs, everyone was dismissed to their quarters to get some rest. Demiurge was in no rush to set things straight. A strong foundation was necessary for his plans to work.

' _How convenient, land is power and none of the people in the government has any. Best government structure the people can hope for. Tonight will give great insight on the impression Eggy has made via the shadow demons I have dispatched to track the elites.'_

Demiurge mused, his was indeed a challenge worthy for a floor guardian. To manipulate a whole country to do his bidding. Ainz-sama on the other hand, made his ploys over the whole continent, which amazed Demiurge to no end.

' _Everything Ainz-sama has done somehow worked together with his future plans. Seeing his greatness in work looks like Ainz-sama is just playing chess against himself. With fiercely rebellious, deceitful, greedy, intelligent –in some cases- pieces but they are yet just chess pieces to the Supreme Being.'_

His thoughts briefly went to the Kingdom and Renner. _'That woman stands like a sore thumb between those inbred nobles. Wonder how Ainz-sama will utilize her. If my intuition is correct, she maybe the key to the conquest of the Kingdom. She can definitely benefit Nazarick.'_

' _Talking about women, that old woman. Matella Mundi was it? Yes, she seemed a little too informed during the coronation. Moreover, I am yet to see the fabled Valkyrie Knight.'_

 _Although they were in the same room, there was no need to take a risk and speak out loud._

 _Via [Message]: "Eggy."_

" _Yes, Demiurge-sama?"_

" _Do you understand your part of the plan for tomorrow?"_

" _Yes."_

' _I highly doubt it but that is why I am here.' "Good."_

" _As I mentioned you will also need to visit the temples. Do not touch or interact with anything unless necessary." 'There is a chance that something left by the dead god can react badly with the new one.'_

"Understood Demiurge-sama."

In front of him a piece of paper came forth from lifeless flames. Which made Demiurge raise an eyebrow. He did not expect to hear from Edward so soon.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

*the city beneath the Floating Castle. The thirteen heroes went to this city and were given powerful artifacts. Fluder has gone there too but was not given access.

For the curious, the reason why the doppelganger is not very high level is in either volume 5 or 6, it is stated that adjutants that Ainz can create can be in the 90s which were higher than any mercenary summon. Thus, I have come to the conclusion that it is more suitable for summons and mercenary summons to be around 60-70s except for the notorious ones. The way the Light Novel handles the topic of levels makes me think that reaching level 100 could have only be accomplished by very dedicated players. Thus I also think that it is counter intuitive to Overlord to shower a story with lots of level 100 characters, especially if they are not players but NPCs. Keep in mind that Ainz Ooal Gown was one of the most powerful guilds in a game that is played by presumable millions. This way we can also appreciate and get a more indicative measure of capability obtained through leveling and how it is reflected to the New World.


	11. Chapter 10

Sorry for the brief haitus, but I have read some highly regarded fanfics on different stuff and Ho Lee Shit there are some great stories… I was very humbled!

Reviews:

Thanks for all the positive feedback!

Although she doesn't know about the existence of Nazarick yet, she should indeed be careful if she had tried to take a peek.

There may indeed be a power disparity between the Nazarick group and the protagonists but I think things will work out xd.

Yes, Gallahad is around the same level as the red cap goblins, which is kind of strange when you think about it. Death Knights average around level 35 and it is said that they can lay waste to cities single handedly. A four foot-ish goblin wearing a red cap being even more powerful than a death knight without being from the caster class is kind of funny (Level cap for goblins is level 50 according to Overlord Wiki.). But of course, higher level may not necessarily mean more destruction. Stealth, single target damage, dueling, defense and other different areas may reflect the level gap instead.

No worries, I will keep posting since I am getting lots of views and plenty of feedback, though it is true that I am not getting much favs or follows :^(; which is understandable though, writing never was my forte plus this fanfic neither start with a gripping premise nor it is immediately related to Nazarick (though it will be soon). Instead, it is full of my OCs so I get why people don't enjoy this as much as they do some other ones.

Anyways, onwards with chapter 10!

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"You charmed me!"

All that painstaking work on wild magic… the secrets of the islanders, Grendell and much more was given away as charity under that damned spell. What a headache.

"Time was of the essence and still is, why don't you make your piece about it? Also stop yelling to my ear, it is annoying." The man had been whining since Joann told him what happened. He was a citizen and what she did was not actually legal, but still, his childish protest was quite off-putting.

Berethur was sitting behind Joann on her Pegasus. She, Kelram and Hawken were riding towards the hills at a brisk pace.

Berethur puffed. It had taken him years to make discoveries on the forgotten magic system and to decipher the works of the great wizard Merlin Monroe. What bothered him even more than the fact that he had spilled all his beans was Joann's disinterest in his work. She had focused entirely on Grendell, whom he had been responsible for since the start of their pilgrimage and Berethur could guarantee that Joann was going to be disappointed when she met him. Still, he couldn't help but feel a little competitive for this beauty's attention.

' _Jousting with Grendell, what have I become.'_ Berethur pushed his lower lip forward in defiance but kept his silence.

The Pegasus took flight after reaching the outskirts of the hills while the sorcerer who skipped on exercise braced himself as the beast rose to the sky. Joann on the other hand, activated all sensory buffs and skills she could. They flew over the bumps and the creeks, looking for a clue.

Berethur held on a little tighter so he didn't put an abrupt end to his life. Everything have become increasingly more complicated since their departure from the church. This was probably the journey of his life, his story. The young man couldn't help but compare himself against the characters he had read in the books. The valiant warriors, heroes.

Most cliché books depicted heroes as people who had difficult pasts that made them aware of the core values of humanity which then they fought for. Compromises and sacrifices were made, but the hero always stood strong. Cheesy as it gets. So, what were his goals? What was his war that he fought fervently in order to preserve the ideals of humanity?

' _Well, I really want to bang Sir Joann now that I met her. I am also parched… oh and yeah.' 'I want to keep my word to the old hag. Honestly going to the floating castle seems easier than bedding the Knight Captain. There is also a smaller chance of losing some precious body parts.'_ He felt relieved after discerning which goals were attainable and which were not. _'I am no hero; I just don't have the depth to show that conviction people admire so much. Kind of disappointing, but then again, tales and reality usually don't tell the same story.'_

Berethur started seeking Grendell with refreshed conviction. His conviction left itself to anxiety as Joan, whom apparently found his disfigured partner, signaled to the other two knights.

After couple minutes of flying, Joann ordered for a landing. They landed around a large caped figure and a towering savage orc. The caped man did not react but the orc readied his axe, eyes flipping from rider to rider.

The Pegasus made agitated noises but still formed a tight circle around the duo. On top of the large beasts, the knights habitually extended their lances forward while Joann just observed their new acquaintances.

This was the day of enlightenment for Gallahad. He had met two beings stronger than him in one day. What was left for him except for following the strong? Dreams that were thought attainable seemed like silly jokes when faced with the reality of the outside world. He glanced at his new idol who was staring emptily at the knights circling him. Grendell's gaze then landed on the lance tips pointing towards them while Gallahad readied his axe.

' _Two defeats in one day is plenty.'_

Joann would have ordered them to drop their lances but the presence of the orc made her decide against it.

"Berethur, is that him?" Joann asked calmly, unfazed by the tense mood.

' _You made a new friend while I am gone? He looks familiar except for the lack of tusks…'_ "Yes, that is Grendell." He couldn't help but to keep talking, "As ugly as I have left him. I am also pretty sure that the Orc was some sort of leader in the camp."

Joann carefully inspected Grendell over her ride ignoring the whining _. 'Let's see if you have more to you than meets the eye… [Detect: Life Essence]'_

…" Huh."

Joann slumped on her saddle, wide eyed.

Kelram and Hawken stared at their captain then exchanged questioning looks with each other; not sure what they were supposed to do. Berethur also threw a questioning gaze at Joann's back. Amongst the collective confusion, Kelram did not notice the reaching hand of Grendell. Then chaos ensued.

As soon as Grendell grabbed the reinforced adamantite tip of the spear, his empty eyes shone with a wicked glint. His eyes met the knights' whom realization slowly downed upon, but it was too late.

"My toy."

Grendell pushed the spear forward then yanked it back. Instead of bouncing off of Kelram's silver-plate armor, the handle penetrated through the armor like it was made of paper and lodged itself into the knight's guts. As Grendell yanked the spear back, Kelram flew towards the beast; still gripping his spear with a confused look in his face.

Grendell's face on the other hand, contorted with dissatisfaction, seeing the knight was not relieved of the shiny pointy-stick. His eyes searched around for something to wipe the knight off of his toy.

Hawken could only gawk as the spear swung towards him at an unnatural speed with his comrade still impaled on top. A blur met the spear before Hawken's Pegasus was sent to the afterlife and Hawken was thrown off of his ride.

Grendell looked back to the spear, now at half its length with questioning eyes. Before he could think of anything else, air around him exploded. Although he did not feel pain or nausea, the world span around him for a couple seconds until everything came to an abrupt halt. He slowly got up from a large trench to take a look at his surroundings. A knight in pink armor was standing before him looking all small and fragile. He was annoyed, his toy was broken and this person obviously was an obstacle between him and his magic-trickster friend.

Berethur clenched his jaw as his old companion made the worst introduction known to mankind ever. He watched with terrified eyes as spear with the knight and all was swung towards the Lloyd Knight called Hawken. That was when Joann disappeared in front of him and reappeared in between the monster and the knight. The sword parried the spear, but apparently the weapons were not made of materials of equal quality since the metal spear snapped like a stick at the contact point causing Kelram to smash into the head of Hawken's ride. Time seemed to slow as Berethur could only track the afterimages of Joann's movements. The knight captain's hand rose up to Grendell's chest and air expended rapidly towards the beast. The shockwave was so condensed, it looked like the exhaled smoke from hookahs. Just hundreds of times thicker. With a deafening boom, Grendell was thrown back like a ragdoll. Joann followed the flying body.

With the two of them suddenly gone, there was three very confused individuals left. However, it did not take very long for Gallahad to make up his mind. In fact, he had made up his mind the second he noticed the knights. The savage orc closed the gap between him and Hawken in a split second. Hawken on the other hand, was a veteran. With the Lady fighting the unknown beast, it did not take him much time to figure he needed to deal with the orc. A sword that was drawn masterfully met the gigantic axe just in time. However, the strength discrepancy between the orc and Hawken became apparent as the knight could barely managed to hold on to his weapon when he was flung backwards by the strike.

Hawken rolled on the ground and got back into a fighting stance while Berethur watched in shock. Kelram's ride charged into the orc, enraged by its rider's death. The Pegasus madly swinging its hoofs down on to the orc reduced the power discrepancy between Gallahad and Hawken to a manageable level.

Around a hundred yards away, Grendell swung at the puny knight, only for the knight to dissipate into the air. As her air-clone dissipated, Joann finished her preparations.

"[Swamp Emergence]" The spell that was being channeled released, turning the ground in a fifty-meter radius into a muddy swamp. Grendell's large body sank into the muddy waters of the swamp, making the beast let out an agitated roar which turned into "gulp, gulp" noises as his whole body sank under the water.

' _Who would have thought… The beast did not look like any being that I know of in either worlds, but who would have known that "It", was a Vanir*…'_

Joann was feeling a mixture of emotions. She had expected this beast to guide her to new revelations but she did not expect to make a discovery of this scale. Things were clicking up in her mind, as well as small seeds of hope she held in her heart began to bloom. There was damage sure, there were losses sure, but IF she could fix him…

' _A druid whose beastly transformation was halted halfway by that shard of blade lodged into his neck, couple dozens of physical and mental de-buffs left him in this pathetic state, for Thull knows how long. If I can bring his consciousness back, I can take back my Lord's Kingdom. With a level 100 druid, it is possible…'_

Joann straightened herself, now she had to make the beast calm down.

Berethur had shaken off his confusion and now was flinging low tiered spells as fast as his exhausted body and reserves could towards the orc. Although it was three on one now, Hawken was barely keeping himself alive from Gallahad's axe. If his armor was of any lesser quality he would have already lost, but he was reducing the power of some unnervingly accurate axe strikes enough for them to bounce off of his armor, leaving large dents and sending shockwaves through his body. It was nothing he couldn't handle with a combo of [Fortress] and [Minor Deflection]. He currently had [Acceleration] [Quick Feet] and [Dodge] active but he was unable to go on the offensive against the orc, even in its heavily wounded and exhausted state.

Gallahad danced under the gigantic Pegasus's hooves while his axe came down on the knight from various angles. He felt pain from the spells sent by the caster but his thick skin withheld preventing further damage. With a sudden move he threw himself away and to the side of the knight, dodging the hooves of the Pegasus. He swung his axe in a large upwards arc, meeting the throat of the winged horse as its body came down to where Gallahad once stood.

The headless Pegasus stood tall, desperately flapping its wings for a couple more seconds before dropping to the ground. Berethur had dismounted from Joann's ride which was keeping its ground, while Hawken was readying himself for the battle that was soon to be resumed, albeit at worse odds. As the fighting came to a temporary halt, Berethur's attention went back to Grendell and Joan. He watched with wide eyes as the ugly bastard got swallowed by the ground.

"Grendell!"

Berethur had given his word; he could not let the Knight Captain kill the old beast before his task was complete. He stopped readying another spell, and ran towards Joann, leaving Hawken and Gallahad behind.

The surface of the swamp exploded, revealing a very angry Grendell that was now a couple meter in the air traveling towards Joann. It was futile however, brute strength was not enough to defeat an opponent who was as crafty as Joann. Yet again, Grendell's fist went straight through an air-clone and lodged itself into the ground. Grendell immediately retracted his arm, ready to smash the real knight.

"Hey, sorry we started off the wrong foot. I am Joann."

Grendell turned towards the Knight who was now picking her nails with her sword, no sign of understanding whatsoever. He roared as he charged, his only arm cocked for another punch. Joann sighed as she prepared a stronger [Air Blast] than she had used before.

' _Sorry but I have to make you understand that you can't hurt me with your current skills. And this isn't enough to actually hurt you too.'_

To her surprise, Grendell's charge slowly came to a halt, his eyes transfixed on Joann. No, it wasn't her the beast was looking at. _'Berethur.'_ Joann thought.

"Magic man." Grendell confirmed with a deep voice, noticing Berethur's presence for the first time.

"I think I should handle this Joann-kakka."

Berethur did not bother to hide the ice in his voice. After all, if the knights had not intervened, he would have been free to find Grendell by himself. To him, all this fighting was meaningless. Grendell was just an awfully strong albeit stupid beast and Joann's ignorant fixation annoyed him.

Joann raised an eyebrow at that, though she retreated away from the duo. Around the same time Gallahad appeared, ready to kill off the nuisances and set off with his newly found idol. For a split second, there was a strange standoff between a human, a fairy, an orc and a…Grendell.

 _Sometime later…_

Air was a mixture of not-so-friendly emotions around the campfire. Joann and Berethur would not let go off Grendell while Grendell would not let go off Gallahad and Berethur, his new friends. Gallahad, well much had happened to him lately for the savage orc to think right. So now they further along the route, camped in the grasslands before continuing with Berethur's Pilgrimage.

Berethus looked at the peacefully sleeping Grendell. It was hard to accept what Joann had told him. But if that was the case, then going to the Floating Castle somewhat made sense.

' _Grendell, or should I say Druid-san… Wonder what you were called before the villagers found you on our shores…'_

Its cape was ripped to shreds when Joann unleashed her spells. The only thing that was left on the beast was the ring he had put on his finger couple weeks ago, which seemed like decades ago now. Grendell's bare chest rose and fell with each breath, his arm was limply laying on the grass. On one of his thick fingers, a plain looking ring was visible.

Berethur narrowed his eyes to make sure the faint light around the ring was not the product of the flames of the camp fire or his imagination. No, the ring was faintly glowing over the green grass. He crawled towards Grendell to take a better look, receiving a threatening side glance from the orc who was probably just acting like he was asleep, which he did not notice.

He kept getting closer until his eyes were inches away from Grendell's hand. From this distance, he could make out the etchings on the ring. _'Etchings?'_ He had held it before, there wasn't anything on the ring when he had gotten it from the old hag. But then again, it also was not glowing back then. Now, over the green grass, the ring seemed to react with the nature around it. Berethur tried to make out what was written on it.

'This isn't written in common tongue! This is… His heart beats got stronger as he recognized the shapes that were similar to the shapes he had often seen in the works of Merlin Monroe.

' _B-bl. Hmm, Blue? Yes, that must be the word. And, P hmm, plan? Planet? Blue Planet? Wonder what that means…'_

After making sure there wasn't anything else written on the ring, Berethur carefully crawled back to his makeshift bed. After cranking his mind on what he had read for a while, he fell asleep.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

* A group of gods associated with nature, fertility, wisdom, magic and the ability to see the future. A high-level racial trait in Yggdrasil.


	12. Chapter 11

Anotha One!

Reviews from first posted to last;

Glad that you found my plans interesting Sagebro~

I am more of a story and experience guy, rather than a results guy. What will eventually happen doesn't really matter to me. I just write and see where the characters and the story will take me, thetabularasa.

Good to see that you liked my plans for the direction of the story!

Yea, as you know, I like to stick to cannon as much as possible. I think there is enough causality in the plot for Ainz not noticing another SB. Facts such as Blue Planet arriving to the NW before Ainz, his current condition and many other possible reasons… We will see how it will go from here :^)

I like Edward as a character so we will see what happens.

I am feeling the hype Ryuuji, it gives me more fuel to write~

Bleach3834, thank you for sharing this update. Although I really enjoy writing in cannon, it is every fanfiction's fate to divert from it. I would like to know your and others' opinion on how I should proceed with the advents in Holy Kingdom. Should I leave it be until Vol. 12, or proceed with my plans? Since a timeline of events aren't established for Vol. 12 except the stuff you have shared, there are too many unknowns. Thus, I am not really confident in staying cannon even after the information you have given me. There are just too many unpredictable things so, at the worst case scenario, think of the advents in my fiction as Root B to the cannon.

As you may have realized, I have already planned ahead. I am doing this for improvement and enjoyment but getting feedback favs, follows, reviews motivates me and increases the update frequency basically. I got good response for Chapter 10 so here is another chapter.

Onwards with Chapter 11~

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Ominous winds blew through the forest as a group of four individuals made their way through. The air in the forest was dense and oppressive. Tree trunks rose high up until first of the thick branches could be seen. The branches extended from the trees, mangling into each other midway; wide triangular leaves spread from each branch and each twig. Miniscule amount of sunlight that could escape this blanket came in thin streams, showering the thick layer of pollen that hung low over the ground. The group seemed to move uncaringly through the thick grass and roots but that was not the truth. Only one of the four was not paying attention to their surroundings.

Joann could detect the slimmest movement in the air, while her ride Hyperion was inspecting the forest from high up in the sky. Gallahad had his ears and eyes open, occasionally taking in a large sniff. Berethur on the other hand, did the best he could to notice what is happening in his surroundings. To his side, Grendell not only moved with no regard to his surroundings but also occasionally wiped his nose onto some nearby plant leaving a disgusting trail behind.

Berethur looked at his group members. _'How did we end up together?'_ He wasn't sure which one was weirder, the captain of the Lloyd Knights accompanying him or the fearsome orc chieftain that raised the hair on his neck walking with a man who came from a no-name village. Or Grendell that turned out to be hiding one of the mightiest beings in the world deep in its consciousness. Joann had tried to communicate more with the beast but clearly she had not made the best first impression. Grendell completely disregarded her existence. With Gallahad and Berethur, he still did not react to their gestures. However, he followed them and seemed to be equally protective of both. His eyes went to the Knight Captain, she was leading the way, gracefully moving through the forest fauna. Everyone in this group made him feel insignificant in their own way. For the first time in his life, Berethur did not feel like knowing wild magic made him any more special than others.

Joann's [Air Tendrills] felt a small figure in distress half a kilometer ahead, a lone signal. There were no other presences so she kept the group moving.

They approached to the small elven child. She had rested her back to a tree clutching one of her hands along with a short arrow lodged in it. Upon seeing them she closed her eyes with trepidation. His dark skinned cheeks glistened with tears.

Joann did not take long to assess the situation; she could feel there were more people to the south east of their location. Some exuding a threatening aura while some exuded distress. The arrow lodged on the girl's hand was blunt, the type that slave traders used to incapacitate their targets. This explained why they haven't met any dark elves this deep into the forest. They were close to The Slane Theocracy and apparently the Theocracy let the slave traders go rampant close to their borders. Joann new all too well how much that countries views had deteriorated over the years. The Holy Kingdom also had its struggle with this problem, but through her efforts, slave trading was kept to a minimum.

"Slave traders. It appears a nearby dark elf village was attacked recently."

Berethur shifted his weight uneasily, "I don't like… this." He gestured to the girl with pursed lips. "Shouldn't we help them?"

"Frankly, no. They are on the move now, we can continue on towards east and just bypass them." Berethur gave her unbelieving looks. "But" Joann continued "We need new clothes and apparel. We can't pass through Slane Theocracy with the current looks of our group.

Couple steps back, Gallahad looked at the girl with an unreadable face. "I will heal the girl and Grendell will stay with me." Joann continued. Her and Gallahad's eyes met and the orc gave her a condescending smirk. Before Joann could open her mouth again, the savage orc was gone into the woods.

Joann sighed, "Berethur, I need you to follow him and calm the elves. I don't want him to scare their souls out of them. We also need the clothes, in one piece. Preferable not too stained." Berethur nodded but after taking a couple steps, spun around indecisively. "Haah. That way." Joann gestured towards the location of the slave traders.

"It is alright now." She crouched to the side of the girl. The elf twitched with fear but some sort of aura coming from the woman washed over the girl and calmed her nerves.

"Who are you pretty Lady?" With the state of terror she was in vanquished, there was genuine curiosity in the girl's voice.

Joann smiled, her eyes temporarily gazing at the distance. "You can call me Joann."

….

"Get in line flat-chest!" The woman squeaked and went back to the line. Around thirty young male and female dark elves were moving through the woods in single file. Their hands were cuffed, chained to the elf behind and in front. Around them armed men donned in light armor with cocked arbalests rode their horses. At the head of the file formation a man armed with a whip and a short sword and five of his henchmen rode.

Musk was feeling good today. Dark elves were a reclusive folk and were deadly opponents when faced in their own domain. His men had to track movements within the forests for months to find the location of their village. Then come the hours long wait covered in ointment that blocked their smell and a muffled step spell by their sorcerer to catch the village off guard. The sorcerer had given two of his men rings that enabled them to disguise as dark elves. While they distracted the villagers, the mercenaries and the rest of his henchmen pounced on the villagers, killing all able warriors. The loot however, was magnificent, dark elves were one of the favorites of the clients and he could hear the distant ring of gold coins being dropped at his feet already.

"You really helped us a lot Francess." He gave a nod of approval to the sorcerer riding next to him.

Francess graciously accepted the trader's compliment. As a follower of the six gods, he was one of the many temple raised divine casters that worked restlessly for the glory of humanity. Although Musk and his men were brutes, their cause was just. Being a slave was the proper occupation for demi-humans.

"It was nothing really; my skills would have gotten rusty if I just sat around in the city."

"Hahaha! True that." They stopped talking as terrified screams came from the file. They readied their weapons for a dark elf ambush. But what they got was not what they expected.

A horse flew in the air and slammed into one of Musk's henchmen. The next second a green blur smashed into Francess's horse, Musk could hear the snapping sounds coming from the legs and back of the horse. As the aggressor slowed down, he could see it was a dark green orc wearing a marry smile on his face.

Francess was up in the air letting out a small shriek as he flew towards a tree. Mercenaries were coming back to their senses, arbalests let lose their arrows, but the orc did not even try to dodge them as they harmlessly bounced of his skin.

Gallahad effortlessly swung his axe, splitting the next man in half from the top of his head down to his saddle. He grabbed the whip of a man in fancier clothes, with a small jump he relieved another man of his head while pulling on the whip.

Musk came down into the dirt head first. In pain but still alive. The orc had moved on to the men standing at the other side of the file, his axe was moving so fast that the mercenaries did not even had time to think about a retreat.

' _This is my chance; I need to get the fuck out of here.'_

The fall had given him a nasty concussion and a broken nose. The slave trader gathered his strength and moved into the trees as fast as possible. As he moved he slipped a ring to his middle finger, Musk's ugly face and stocky figure changed into the resemblance of a dark elf. _'I don't think he killed any of the elves. Inhuman pieces of shit, always covering each other's backs.'_

After a minute of running, he froze in his tracks when he came face to face with a tall man. "What!" Musk immediately took couple steps back.

"Umu, no worries we just want to help dark elf-san." The man gestured to calm Musk down. Now that the slave trader had a better chance to observed the man, Musk noticed the man was severely out of breath.

"Do you know that orc who killed those men?"

The man looked defeated. "Oh damn it, he is already finished? I had hoped that I could keep one of them alive to get some information."

' _I am sure you would buddy… An embarrassment of a human like you who travels with orcs would of course interrogate a fellow human.'_

"Anyways thank you for the information, sorry that this happened to you." The man gave him an awkward nod and hurried towards where Gallahad was supposed to be.

' _Oh no you don't.'_

Musk bolted forward, grabbing a handful of the man's robe while kicking him right under the back of his knee. With a perfected motion, Musk threw the tall man to the ground. After all, he had done this take down to around a hundred demi-humans before.

Berethur only had time to turn around before the dark elf mounted him, wrapping his fingers around the young sorcerer's neck. His eyes widened as it became harder and harder to breath. One of his hand went to his throat, while the other went to the small booklet hanging from his waist that he had prepared a long time ago. He dug his fingers between his waist and the elf's legs in order to reach the booklet. His vision was darkening while his head felt like it was going to explode from the halted blood flow.

His fingers brushed the booklet as he silently thought about the word, _[Confusa]._

The elf's grip relaxed, looking at the coughing man with genuine surprise. Berethur did not waste his time, the spell was weak since he did not have time to focus. He pushed the elf back as hard as he could and got back to his feet. He could see the crazed elf's senses coming back to him. _'The irony.'_ He thought, Berethur was feeling confident now that there was distance between them.

Musk could not understand how the man had escaped him but did not waste time contemplating. He charged with his arms extended.

Berethur pointed a single finger, while his other hand stayed on his booklet. "[Explosio]"

A wave of heat expanded at an incredible rate in front of Musk, the explosion sent him flying only to stop after hitting a tree four meters behind him. There were two blackened stumps at were his hands previously were and the rest of his arms were severely burned. With the sudden shock of pain, Musk passed out.

Berethur watched as the elf's body turned into the stocky figure of the slave trader.

…..

"Please that is the least of what we can do."

The elves did not care about the strange composition of the group. Only thing they felt was gratefulness towards their saviors. The captives ranged from young adults to toddlers.

"We will accompany you through the forest. Elven city patrols are hostile to anything besides our kin. If some of us accompany you, there won't be any misunderstandings!"

"Oh you need clothes?! Of course! Yeah, how about these, these look like what you humans wear… I don't know what to give the orc-san and beast-san though." Looking for the right cloths…and Gallahad thought he felt what true torture was.

"Aren't you the one fixed young Mika's hand? You are so pretty! Oh and that man captured the slave trader. Ya know, you can always stay here for a while longer sorcerer-san~"

Joann was satisfied with how things had turned out. _'We even found two very valuable shapeshifter rings. Only thing left to do is to convince the orc to wear one of them. And put one on Grendell's finger without activating his weird self-defense mechanism.'_

After helping the elves burry their losses, the group moved forward with their new companions. They were stopped once but their companions swiftly solved the situation. After a day and a half's trip, they were expertly taken out of the forest. With a final thank you, the dark elves departed back into the forest.

After couple minutes of silent walking, Joann spoke.

"I still don't know your name, orc."

The savage orc looked at Joann like he was a single metaphorical millimeter close to breaking her neck, but his expression quickly turned natural.

"I am Gallahad the… War-chief. I wouldn't give my name if a mere human had asked, but you are no human, aren't you?"

Joann did not reply, just gave a nod of acknowledgement of the orc's name. Receiving a questioning look from Berethur.

…

Four figures approached the city gates. As usual, the city guards stopped them to ask questions and do the brief inspection they did to unfamiliar people.

"Halt! State your business and names. Be at ease, this is the proto…" The guard stopped talking as he got a better look at the faces of the strangers.

The one leading the group was a woman beautiful beyond measure. She wore dark green leggings and a white shirt. On her waist, a regular sword dangled from a loosely worn belt. Most of her golden hair was made into a ponytail while some strands and two locks flew down her chest. Her face had strong defined features while the dark brows over her brown eyes gave her a wild look, like the animals of the wilderness.

Behind her was a tall man with brown hair wearing a bored expression and a dark robe. He held a wooden walking stick on his right hand. Stabbing the ground restlessly. Next to him, an unnaturally wide and fat man stood. Sun shined on his bald head while his beady eyes looked forward, unconcerned with what was going on around him. He looked for the lack of a better word, dumb.

Furthest back, a man taller and bigger than any the guard had ever seen stood. This one was looking straight into the eyes of the guard with such hatred that the poor man involuntarily gulped. His hands were crossed over his barrel-like chest while a large object wrapped in cloth was hanging from his back.

"Umm."

…..

Mare sat on the inner walls of the Colosseum, dangling his feet over the arena. Since Ainz-sama told them to properly rest, he had been taking short breaks from work, usually to come to the arena and look at the unmoving golems. However, they were too silent to be good company. Was him and Aura the only dark elves in this world? It would have been great if there were more of his kind.

' _First, I would tell them how great Nazarick is! Then I can show them my duties as the guardian of the 6_ _th_ _floor. At this point, they would definitely be dying to be friends with me, even with Aura perhaps…but she is so scary sometimes!'_ He couldn't help but shudder at the thought of his sister.

Regardless, friends would have been the icing on the cake. His life was already perfect. Serving the greatest of the supreme beings was the ultimate joy anyone could hope for. Plus, he and his sister had the privilege of living in this perfect world that Blue Planet-sama had created. He looked at the beautiful night sky and muttered.

"What else can one ask for?"


	13. Chapter 12

Reviews:

Good to hear that the story is an enjoyable read. I do think I have gotten better since I had written the first chapter.

Chaos Dichter, fixed that mistake, thank you for pointing it out. According to my knowledge, Overlord wikia and Overlord New World maps; Roble Holy Kingdom is located at the westernmost part of the known world. The lands are guarded by the legendary Valkyrie Knight. This nation used to have close relations to the Slane Theocracy. However, contact was lost due to a Beastmen outbreak between the nations. The only known nation with a queen as its ruler is the Draconic Kingdom founded by the Brightness Dragon Lord, its ruler being Draudillon Oriculus a powerful wild magic user that fancies the look of a naïve loli. This nation is under an even greater beastmen threat.

I played WC3 and Frozen Throne back in the day. Never touched WOW though, MMOs are too time consuming. So maybe that is the reason why it feels like it, though I never intended it to lol. They are in Slane Theocracy right now. Far south of E-Rantel.

Chapter 12

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

A lazy voice broke the silence, "Why are we going to that border city again?".

"The contractor wants us to gain more field experience before going to the Elven border, Mura" Augustin replied with his ominous voice that always made him sound like he was out of breath.

After the assumed obliteration of the Sunlight Scripture, The Theocracy hadn't stayed unresponsive to the loss of one of its major scriptures. While the ordeal had costed them numerous talented mages along with Nigun, it also created an opportunity for experimentation.

The council had decided that one of their most invasive and active units should be made up of more dispensable individuals. All Scriptures consisted of extremely devoted and talented individuals, hand-picked for their loyalty and skills. However, the strict selection parameters denied Theocracy to utilize many individuals who are equally/more skillful but… less devoted. Thus the creation of the worker team "Retribution" was agreed upon. Of course, this team was the new temporary and experimental Sunlight Scripture, except the fact that they were picked and put together through other channels and were given orders that indirectly accomplished the scripture's aims. None of them knew they _were_ the new Sunlight Scripture.

Retribution was a team of four individuals and two tall creatures wrapped in bandages:

Augustin "The Plague" Mehr, serial killer that terrorized the populace of multiple cities. He was finally caught in the Holy City by the Black Scripture after over two hundred confirmed murders including an entire platinum ranked adventurer's team. As the leader of Retribution, he was the only one who knew that they were on government payroll. Two tall creatures travelled with him. A metal mask covered his face while the rest of his head concealed under the hood. He wore pieces of Gothic-looking plate armor over a black robe. On his hip a longsword dangled in a decrepit scabbard.

Father Moe, head priest in a healing church in Western Theocracy who decided killing the patients was more efficient than the whole healing ordeal. Besides his insanity, - clearly seen in his many quirks such as hearing voices, immense mood swings and having multiple personalities -, Moe was an exceptional healer. He preferred a white robe with red linings, a fancier variant of the healer outfit. He used a mace that also acted as a staff during combat.

And finally Nero and Mura, ex-adventurers who killed their own teammates and became workers. The combined power of these four heretics exceeded the strength of the old scripture without Dominion Authority. Nero did not wear any armor besides two thick bracelets and carried no weapons while Mura wore leather armor; pair of short swords dangled on his back.

"Oi Nero, don't you also think a contractor sending us to "practice" is ridiculous?" Mura smirked deviously to his partner.

"I don't mind Mura. It has been a while since I checked out the fighting scene in Lochliel."

"Haven't you already became the arena champion there? I don't think you would enjoy fighting the same small fries again. Do you think some new-comer can beat you there?"

"Hah, unlikely. No one ever beaten me except for brother Zero and I won't be meeting him unless Eight Fingers begun sending people to vacation in Theocracy."

"BWAHAHAHA! You are funny Nero-kun!"

With Moe's outburst, the group mood turned back into the awkward silence before. After a while Mura started to get giddy again. His eyes were barely visible since he squinted his eyelids as much as possible, but a glance of mischief could still be seen.

"So Nero-san, if we were still adventurers; what would you think our rank would be?"

"Interesting question Mura." Nero looked at the sky due to a wave of nostalgia coming over him. "Our previous adventurer team was mythril ranked. They were an annoying but hard working bunch for sure. That was five years ago. We have improved a lot since then."

" _Deadly_ annoying kukuku. It wasn't easy to deal with them." Mura seemed to feel the nostalgia too.

Nero then turned to Augustin, the leader of Retribution. "They say you killed a platinum ranked team of five individuals single handedly Augustin-dono."

"Yes I did." Augustin gave a deadpan answer.

"Ooh, almighty Augustin-dono." Mura's voice was dripping with sarcasm, it concealed the side of him that was very impressed. "That is no small feat, did you caught them unawares? Who are the two gentlemen travelling with you anyways?"

"No."

And just like that, there was silence again.

…..

In front of the surprised gatekeeper were four individuals.

"We are travelers; we came to the city to resupply. My name is Joann, the two men behind me are Berethur and Grendell. The laggard in the back is George." She knew Gallahad did not want his name to be shared around; it had taken her a while to convince him to use the fake name. Joann did not have a problem with leaving him behind but Grendell and Gallahad were not in terms with the idea of going their own way just yet.

The guard stared at Joann for a brief second. _'Nearly as odd as the other traveler group I have seen, but oddity doesn't suffice to close our doors to humans in need.'_

"Well, as long as you do not cause trouble you are free to enter the city. Welcome to Lochliel." He gestured the two guards behind him. "Let them pass!"

Soon after the group moved inside the city, Joann expressed her intention to learn more about the Theocracy and find a proper map as guidance for the rest of the journey.

"There is nothing to gain from moving together, you guys can find an inn to stay the night while I gather intelligence." Berethur nodded. Although Gallahad did not want to be bossed, he knew nothing about human cities. Sad as it is, he was wise enough to stick with someone who has a better chance of successfully traversing the city than him.

The savage orc gave his full attention to understand to machinations of the city. Small stones were tightly knit together to create surfaces between buildings. He later learned that these stone surfaces were called streets. Although Gallahad despised humans, he could not help but be impressed by the structures humans have created. While there was a severe lack of fighting circles, the city was chaotic enough without it and still; it functioned like a clockwork.

Soon enough Berethur found a decent looking inn. The trio made their way to one of the tables and after some minor problems with Grendell, sat down. Agonized creaking sounds came from Gallahad and Grendell's seats but both chairs held up. A young girl approached to take their orders. She did not seem to be even slightly bit fazed by the size of the two; she smiled warmly. "What can I get you today?"

"Umu." Berethur looked at Gallahad, who responded with a nod. "Whatever the chef is cooking today and drinks."

After giving orders, Berethur left to talk to the innkeeper for lodging while Gallahad began to scan the room. The waitress did not pay particular attention to them, but there were plenty of people around throwing glances and some that straight up staring at their table. His keen senses could feel some sort of animosity but did not understand why. Although Gallahad did not know much about such buildings, he still felt that this wasn't a regular inn.

Gallahad then directed his attention towards the bar. Some of the people there too, were sizing them. Behind the bar, the innkeeper was talking to Berethur while cleaning a metal cup with a towel. Gallahad eyed his worn knuckles. Then things slowly began to make sense for the orc, even his lips curled slightly upwards. It was not animosity; they were just seizing up a new challenger.

Berethur came back just as the food came to their table. "Alright, I have gotten ourselves a room, let's take the food there." He really did not want Grendell to be agitated by the crowd while grabbing something, even if it was food. So, they moved to their room. After swallowing the slightly burnt chicken drums and potatoes, the young sorcerer threw himself on one of the beds. Grendell imitated him, promptly breaking the bed. _'Going to have to pay for that'_ Berethur made a mental note but did not let it sour his mood, this was the first actual bed he had laid in for nearly two months. Before he released himself to the sweet embrace of sleep, Berethur grabbed the medallion on his neck.

"Joann-sama, I have found ourselves an inn."

"I told you, you can just call me Joann."

"Alright, its name is "The Upper Cut" though the place seemed pretty mediocre and the food was overcooked. I did not see anything appropriate to be of the upper cut."

' _There he starts complaining again…With right tutorship he can easily reach the strength of an elite, but will never reach the maturity of an average adult.'_

"Alright, I will come there after I am done."

She went back into the store to continue talking with the merchant. She found the man walking down the stairs with a bunch of rolled maps under his arm. Merchant seemed overjoyed about Joann's presence.

"Welcome back Joann-san, I have brought local and provincial maps as you have requested. He put them on the counter for Joann to check out."

"Ah, these two should do it."

"Great choices." Merchant nodded fervently. "That would be three silver coins."

"Here. Also, I was curious about what a traveler should check out in Lochliel, would you be willing to give me your insight on that?"

"Of course! This place has multiple stuff going for it! We got probably the best draft beers in entire Western Theocracy. There are the temples of the glorious gods and the regular execution fests of demi humans that usually happens once a week." He came in closer to Joann. "Well, we also have one of the biggest underground fight scenes in Theocracy."

' _Execution fests, utterly barbaric.'_ Joann kept the thoughts to herself. "Hmm, what kind of fighting are we talking about?"

"Hah, fist fighting of course! You see Joann-san, arenas were in abundance all over Theocracy back in the day. People would fill them to max capacity to see demi-humans fight each other and seldom prisoners and such. However, the scene died down since demi humans are not as easy to catch anymore. When they do catch them, it is only enough to meet the demand for servants, laborers and bed-warmers." Joann perfectly covered her distaste and urged the man to continue.

The merchant giggled, "But fist fighting in Lochliel is a whole different ordeal Joann-san. Once you get down to the arena, everyone is equal, which is the reason it is condemned so much. We don't like equality in Theocracy. Though one can make quite the bank from betting in one of the "event" locations."

Joann pondered for a couple seconds, ' _This can be a source for making easy money. I can just check out fighter's stats with a spell and bet accordingly.'_ They were a group of four, and neither Berethur or Joann had much money left. They would sooner or later have to resort taking on odd-jobs if they choose to stay within city walls.

"Most interesting, do you know where one can see this spectacle."

"Well, I think I can trust you with this information Joann-san." The merchant gave her a revulsive wink that was probably aimed to be seductive. "The regulars are always hosted by the owner of the inn called The Upper Cut." He made an upward swinging gesture with his hand. "You see, "The Uppercut." not very subtle, is it? Haha."

' _What is up with Berethur and his choices? I really don't want Gallahad to get a wind of these "events".''_

…..

Joann came back with some newly purchased equipment and two maps. It did not take her long to see that unfortunately, Gallahad had indeed taken the scent of the fighting.

"I assume you want to fight."

"*Snort* I will." There was no chance that Gallahad missed an opportunity to add combat experience. This was a completely new stage, thus like a boy entranced by a newly purchased toy, Gallahad could not wait to bash all these racist goblin snots' faces in.

' _This is both good and bad. At least I know I will win every time if I bet on him. However, if his ring malfunctions due to impacts then our identities will be compromised. It is not a risk I am willing to take but I can't dissuade him.'_

Thus the two left Berethur and Grendell to gain access to the arena.

"I suppose you are his sponsor." The innkeeper was sizing up Gallahad with interest.

Joann nodded, "Yes he seeks to test his mettle."

"Mhmm, alright. Anyone who is willing can get into the fighting scene by fighting initiates or other people who want to prove their mettle. Looking at your friend, I presume they won't stand much chance. Depending on his progress, he can probably take on our beloved professional fighters in a month."

Gallahad let out a loud snort. "Stay pathetic, human."

The innkeeper sneered at the giant of a man. It wasn't his first time seeing a large guy getting into the arena with confidence against the pros only to be taken out in a stretcher, straight to the closest healing temple. "Overconfidence won't help you here son. Even if you are good, it takes time and money to heal between fights. I was being optimistic giving you just a single month to challenge the big fishes."

He sighed. "Anyways, there are a few rules in our community which every challenger must abide. Fights continue as until one surrenders verbally, by tapping or by being unable to fight. The last one is determined by our referees. If you do anything after someone surrenders then you won't be fighting anyone in the future. Deaths may happen, but a conscious effort to kill your opponent will result in disqualification. Sign this and you two will be good to go."

And so they were taken to the arena through some concealed doors. The place was not very large, but there were multiple stories rising around the circular arena. Since there was not a lot of room to the sides, the arena was built upwards. On each balcony a small register was located. There was a small crowd of betters around each register.

"The fighting will begin in half an hour. You guys should put your information and arena title for the big guy soon, otherwise you won't be taking place in the fights."

They did their registeration and Gallahad was randomly seeded among other amateurs. Joann was eyeing a small booklet that contained information on all of the professionals. _'Hmm, hard to judge their actual fighting prowess from a pamphlet. I will see it soon enough anyways; I just hope the orc understood the rules.'_

First couple fights were not very interesting. Betting on these was also very risky since both sides were usually equally bad, the odds being the same as of a coin flip. After four uninteresting matches, Gallahad's first fight came up.

A man with his voice amplified by first tier magic introduced the fighters,

"Next is a fight between a smith versus a traveler. Fighting out of Lochliel, weighing at nearly as much as my ex-wife, Hanno the Hammerfist!"

A man as wide but not as tall as Gallahad pumped his fists into the air. The crowd cheered for the local fighter. Hanno was an extremely powerful man and was not a stranger to the arena. He could have even gone pro but he loved the hammer and the anvil more than fighting.

"Aaaaand making his way to the ring is his challenger, the mysterious traveler: George the Savage!" The crowd gave a small applause due to their respect to the sport but most people were not impressed with Gallahad's ring name.

"What a cheesy title, this is the thirtieth "savage" we have now."

"Damn, that guy is huge though!"

"Does it matter? If you don't have the skill, size doesn't matter."

The crowd had varying thoughts about the challenger. On one of the closest seats to the ring Mura leaned towards Nero.

"Ne my old friend, when did fatties take an interest in fist fighting?" Gesturing towards Hanno.

"Heh, I know him. He is a good smith and has been fighting in the arena longer than even some of the pros. Don't let his appearance fool you. I would even say the innkeeper doesn't like this George guy, seeing he has matched him against a strong opponent from the start."

Meanwhile in the ring, Hanno raised his fists and nodded to the guy before him but got no response.

Gallahad approached the man at walking pace, full of openings. Seeing his opponent's low guard and unready posture, Hanno immediately took action and threw a hard jab. To his surprise, the man dodged easily, before he could retract a hand grabbed him by his face.

The disguised orc simply dragged the man until they reached one of the wooden walls of the arena. He casually slammed the guy into the wall using his power carefully, he did not intend to kill the man. Soon after the impact, Hanno went limp. His body slowly slid off the wall and fell on the floor.

The crowd went silent. They expected a close fight, but this could not even be called a fight.

' _Yes, I just took out the trash.'_

Gallahad smirked at the audience, but his face contorted with fury a second after. He could feel his blood boiling in his veins. _'More.'_

"Next!"


	14. Chapter 13

Reviews:

Yea, I feel like the people of Theocracy should have some awareness of this blatant discrimination. Honestly, it is hard to talk about equality when the basis of governance in the New World mostly depends on the nobility of one's blood. Thanks for the comment!

Sorry that I am not posting regularly. I have research and big boy stuff going on. In this chapter you will see that people are referred to by different names in different instances. It is because I am switching between perspectives. Anyways hope you enjoy the chapter. :^)

Onwards with chapter 13!

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Inn keeper looked at the schedule he has planned.

' _Amateur fights until eleven._

 _Professional fight of the week_

 _Introduce the arriving arena champion, display match between Nero-dono and a demi-human.'_

Then he looked at the arena, one of his strongest kickers, a pro with a match history of forty wins and three losses, Lexi the Rabbit was fleeing from a moving mountain of muscle. The girlish shrieks of the man could be heard as George chased him with inhuman fierceness. Innkeeper ripped the page of his scheduler and threw the crumpled piece of paper towards the arena in frustration. _'I don't know how I will make the audience take the fighters seriously after these fights.'_

Two rows below him a hand bolted and grabbed the crumpled paper with unnatural speed. Nero smirked as he read the simple schedule.

"Look at this Mura, old man Tito's plans are in shambles."

Mura skimmed the sheet, "O Nero-san, you didn't tell me you had a fight arranged."

The roar of the crowd interrupted them when Lexi the Rabbit got tackled into the ground. The medics and a healer were waiting at the ready outside and came in with the stretcher once the referee confirmed the fighter was knocked out. After the first match all the people who wanted the glory for taking out Gallahad had queued to get a chance against the traveler. Instead of getting intimidated, more and more fight lovers tried their chances, only to be knocked unconscious within a couple seconds. Lexi's fight had taken a solid three minutes since the men had begun to run away from Gallahad the moment he got into the arena.

After the noise subsided Nero answered, "Yes, against a dark dwarf slave. But it seems that won't be happening while that George guy is still standing."

Mura lifted his eyebrows, "You want to take him out don't you."

"You read me like a book Mura."

"Hmm, I don't doubt you Nero-san, but something about that man does not seem right to me. Never seen anybody fight like that before."

"Indeed, it would make sense if he was a warrior-monk like me but just looking at his physique is enough for me to tell that this guy fights with a weapon."

That actually shocked Mura enough to drop his sarcastic facade. "No way! He is this strong in melee combat while having a weapon focus?"

"Aye. If I were to guess, I would say he is some kind of shapeshifter. Think about it, he isn't using a single martial art and easily overpowered the strongest guys in the city." Nero gave him a vicious smile. "If I can confirm my suspicions, this one would make good "field experience".

Mura mirrored him back, "Should I let Augustin-dono know about your suspicions?"

"Nah, not yet at least. There is still a chance he is human and for Augustin that matters little. He is way too radical to play some good ol' cat and mouse. You should focus on locating who his sponsor is. If he is really a non-human who is not registered under an owner, then he is basically free for the taking… and Mura, talk to old man Tito, I am heading down."

Nero moved nimbly to the edge of the lodge and dropped down into the arena. George's eyes immediately locked on to the newcomer. The crowd who has been laughing and cheering the former cat and mouse game slowly quieted down as the new contestant made an unconventional entry.

' _This guy's gaze, this killing-intent… No George the "Savage", you can't deceive a man who has spent his entire life hunting beasts and demi-humans.'_

After a minute, the innkeeper ran to the lodge where the confused announcer stood. After some small whispering to the ear the announcer nodded professionally and addressed the crowd.

"Tonight we have witnessed the incredible, as a traveler proved his mettle over thirty-two times against the strong-arms of Lochliel! His ambition and might was noted by the biggest shark in the sea, fiercest lion in the jungle and the lord of the arena, NERO THE ADVENTURER!

Crowd roared louder than ever for the undisputed king of fist-fighting. Nero have been the champion for thirteen years, traveling to Lochliel two times a year to defend his title. There wasn't anyone in the crowd that did not know the name.

Gallahad looked at his new opponent. This man was not as tall or as wide as he was, but every single fiber of muscle could be seen under a thin layer of skin. He was muscular to the extent that his cheeks and forehead were also covered in strips of muscle. Fat did not seem to exist in that body. From Nero's physique and posture to his clam look, the savage orc immediately understood that this was a worthy opponent.

So Gallahad used his full strength right from the beginning; with a war cry, he charged at his opponent with full force. Nero at the other side did the same. The disguised orc's arms came around from both sides for a straight forward, albeit powerful tackle.

Nero moved slightly to his left as George charged in. He stepped forward with his right food while twisting his back leg to point backwards. His left arm smashed into the right arm of the giant of a man while his right hand came in with a palm strike to the inside of George's right elbow. [Lesser Ki Strike]!

Gallahad smiled inwardly, the man had focused everything on deflecting his right arm, but he knew the human was not strong enough to halt his charge or prevent him from wrapping his arms around him. With this Nero human focusing to his right arm, Gallahad would easily take his back and smash him into the dirt, an easy win. Or so the savage orc thought.

Nero twisted his whole body towards left. He used George's power against himself as he used his back to redirect George's charge, while both controlling his dominant arm and sending a Ki strike to weaken it. Nero threw George all the way to the walls of the arena over his shoulder. The large body smashed half way into the wooden walls accompanied by the crackles of the yielding wood.

' _Oops, maybe I should not have used my full strength. Heteromorph or not, that must have hurt.'_

After a moment of stillness, the man moved. The wood seemed to explode as Gallahad pulled himself back into the arena, freeing himself from the wooden maw the impact had created.

Nero inspected George who cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders while gazing him down with a ruthless glare. He tried to gage the damage the throw has caused to George but there was no visible damage. _'Not a single scratch huh.'_

Gallahad would have been furious couple weeks ago, if he were to be thrown around by a human. But he had learned a lot in the recent past. He contained his anger and turned it into determination in order to show his opponent just how mighty Gallahad the Warchief is.

In the audience, Joann was starting to get worried. If it wasn't natural for a man to be as strong as Gallahad is showing himself to be, then smashing halfway through a thick wooden wall and walking away without a scratch was even more unnatural. This fight would definitely blow the orc's cover if she let it continue. Nero seemed to be around level 27 which was remarkable for a human. With his skill distribution, he definitely had more skill when it came to hand to hand combat than Gallahad. In the end, the level disparity was just to vast though, she knew Gallahad would win after a fierce battle that would undoubtedly rise suspicions among the crowd.

Nero was thinking on a similar line. If he were to blow this "thing"'s cover, there would be more after him than just his group. Halfheartedly, he made his choice. Nero gave George a smile that did not reach his eyes.

"I surrender!"

It took couple seconds for both Gallahad and the referee to register what Nero had just said. The referee moved to the middle of the ring and announced it to the crowd.

"Nero has surrendered! George the Savage has won, give an applause for the new champion!"

The crowd was silent. Then a single whistle could be heard. Some claps here and there. Then some more. And then some. Finally, the whole arena boomed with applause for the new arena champion, while it was quiet the anti-climactic end to a match, a win was a win regardless. After thirteen years, Lochliel had a new champion.

Gallahad was visibly angry while Nero wore a sly smile. Nero had yielded before he could _earn_ his victory.

….

Mura whistled a barely audible tune as he approached the room. He had talked to Tito and found out who George's sponsor was. Then, he had used his skills to take a peek into the finance books to find their room number. He was a rogue after all. He had been using his skills in the perimeter and already knew there were two insides besides George and this Joann woman who should be watching them. Just as he had calculated, the door opened when he was twenty steps away.

' _So, the operation field experience commenceth.'_ Mura giggled.

After making sure Grendell was asleep, Berethur got out of the room to take a piss. He yawned as he got out to the corridor.

' _Life is so much better when your belly is full and you got a bed.'_

He walked past an unremarkable eastern-looking man and motioned towards the stairs. However, his vision went dark before reaching to it.

Berethur opened his eyes to a large room. All walls and the floor were made up of stone and large patches of mold covered most of the ground. From the smell and the absence of windows, he guessed that he was somewhere in the sewers. He was sitting in a chair in the middle of the room, his hands and legs were tied to the chair.

"...I am sure of it." A lean and muscular figure was talking to a creepy masked man, gothic armor put over thick layers of his robe.

"Tsk tsk tsk." The eastern-looking man stood in front of him with his hands formed into relaxed fists. He gave an exasperated sigh.

"Don't. You. Guys. Know. That. You. Should. Register. Non-humans. In. Theocracy.?" He punched Berethur in the face at the end of each word.

Mura took a step back and gazed at the man. "Whoa Mura-san, you are really good at this! I think I saw a tooth flying that way!" Moe was scanning the floor as he talked.

Mura grabbed Berethur's chin and raise head so he can look at him. The sorcerer was way too dazed to do it himself at that instant. "So, what _is_ your friend exactly? That George fella." Berethur wasn't in any condition to respond. His face was rapidly swelling and his head felt like it was going to spill out of his nostrils.

"Back off Mura, we know where they are staying. No need to interrogate the poor boy." Mura irked and backed away when Augustin started talking. Soon after the man wearing the iron mask took Mura's place. Slowly regaining his bearings, Berethur looked at the masked man.

Augustin raised his hand, which made Berethur flinch. However, Augustin did not punch him. Augustin's hand went to his mask and slowly took it off. Under it was a rotten face. The man's face looked like it was halfway through necrosis. Spots of black- red gashes and large wounds made it look like a surreal painting. Bloodshot eyes with no eyelids stared at Berethur.

"Let me fill you in on some premium information boy. I was born with an extremely unique passive ability, [Life Drain II]." His bilious mouth twisted into a half-frown. The other three in the room also listened intently.

"Normally it takes a necromancer who has access to 4th tier spells to cast it. Makes it awfully hard for my foes to get close to me if I don't hold it back, let alone touch me. The downside is, I am also susceptible to this curse albeit at a much slower rate. I have travelled all around, sharing my burden with others so I don't rot away due to my accursed legacy. Shared with over two hundred people of all shape and sizes. As you can see, I am very charitable. It eases a little, but my curse always wants more flesh." He smirked at him.

Berethur was kindof happy that the punches had made it hard for him to think straight. All he could do was to assume an unconcussed Berethur would be terrified right now.

"Now, if I only let you in on the fun, you will die awfully quick. Instead you and your entourage will share it together."

"Augustin-dono, we need to turn them in alive. As you have said, we are paid for every non-human and non-human aider we catch." When it came down to their paycheck, Nero was the most devout of them all.

"Of course Nero, I am just going to give them a taste. My medicines are running low. He motioned towards the two bandaged figures."

"Hmph, can't be helped I guess."

…

Joann was freaking out. Berethur was nowhere to be found. It had taken them a while to get back to their room after Gallahad had become the arena champion and now she whole heartedly regretted the time they had wasted. She had made Gallahad check the room while she searched the whole area with her [Wind Tendrils].

' _Grendell is still sleeping, but it will be very troublesome when he notices Berethur's absence.'_

"I found somethin'" Gallahad's voice came from the corridor. Joann never have thought she would be so happy to hear Gallahad's humanized voice. He pointed at the small food stain on the ground.

"Residue of tonight's meal. Seems like your humie friend face-planted right here."

' _Did he slip? Even Berethur wouldn't slip on flat normal surface and fall face-first.'_ Gallahad also pointed out very vague lines that might have been caused by heels if someone was dragged. _'Taken then?'_

Low growling sound coming from the room declared that Grendell was up. _'Shit, shit, shit. I do not know how to explain this to him.'_ Joann racked her brain while Grendell took a look around the room.

"We will take him with us. Grendell is a great warrior." Gallahad walked towards the shapeshifted beast.

"You think so? Do you know how hard would it be to get him out of the Theocracy if they found out what he is?!" Joann was racking her brain, _'We don't even know who took him or why. They probably watched us at the fighting event. I KNEW letting Gallahad fight was a bad idea.'_

Joann forcefully calmed herself and thought about the possibilities. _'If they were kidnapping for extortion, then they would have left some kind of message. If they were just aiming to kill them, Grendell would also be targeted. Those are not it.'_

' _The most plausible explanation is that they do not care that we know they are on us. All they wanted was more information. Yes, that must mean that whoever took him wanted to interrogate him. What if he tells everything? There is so much that is on stake here, fuck! Ugh, that means we need to find him quick, before they learn more about us.'_

A sudden bolt of realization struck her while she was pondering. "The medallion!"

' _By the Lords and creator-sama, how can I be so stupid?!'_ She turned to Gallahad.

"Ok, we will take Grendell with us. Berethur has one of my Lloyd Medallions. We can track him that way. If my assumption is true, they will find out who we are regardless we bring Grendell or not; provided we do not hurry. Let's go." Joann checked his equipment and sent a mental signal to Hyperion. She left the room, seeking after the signal of her medallion.

Gallahad grabbed Grendell's arm avoiding his hand and rushed after Joann.

…

Demiurge gazed down the wall. Under the shadow of the wall, numerous small buildings were visible. Holed in to the ground, large furnaces released black fog towards the sky. Weapons, armor and angry machines of war were being made.

' _Ainz-sama subjugated the entirety of the Empire in a single day, in one glorious victory; without a single death. But people's loyalty is fickle and Jircniv is a fool. Trying to rebel against the graceful and righteous rule of the Supreme Being. Truly undeserving of Ainz-sama's compassion.'_ Demiurge smiled serenely over the sheep, working day and night to meet the expectations of their Emperor, who was nothing but an astonishingly untalented doppelganger. He was so bad that Demiurge sometimes just let him ruin the country through nothing but his candid acting.

' _I will teach these fools to appreciate a fair ruler's compassion. I will teach them that their blind worship to false gods will be their undoing. Then, Ainz-sama may choose what his Un-Holiness would deem their fate to be. Until then, they are my sheep.'_

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

See you next chapter, critiques and support are welcome!

Also, sorry if there are grammar mistakes. No one proofreads my work including me xd.


	15. Chapter 14

Sorry for the long wait, big d bandit is back again. This chapter will be action mostly, but as you all now I am not an experienced writer and action scenes are probably some of the hardest to write out there. Thus, I can only hope I made a decent job at it. Anyways, let me know what you think, was it boring? Too clunky? Or just ok?

Reviews;

Read the first couple chapters Bicorn, I am sure you can figure out why :^)

Yay for Demiurge indeed. When I introduce everything and the circumstances of the story, which has not fully developed although I have already written 39k words, things will be clearer. I just hope I can wrap everything and write it all up until August. If I get a good enough response to this story until then, I will use its plot to write an Overlord Volume 12. If not, I have other regular and crossover ideas for this fandom and others.

Regardless, chapter 14 folks!

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

She ran into a desolate street while Gallahad followed couple feet behind, carrying Grendell bridal style in order to keep an eye on his hand and also to be able to keep up with Joann. To his surprise, Grendell was much heavier than he had anticipated and half an hour of running down the streets of Lochliel with him in his arms had taken its toll. They moved deftly through the sparsely crowded streets.

Joann stopped upon reaching a large rusted grill blocking their path. The rusty metal bars were too close to each other for humans of any shape and size to pass through and were as thick as a child's wrist. The air coming from the other side carried stench of waste and mold.

' _He is in the sewers.'_

Joann grabbed Humility* from her pocket inventory, the sword on her waist was only a décor. With a quick "Z" motion, Humility bit its way through the grill; opening a path large enough for a grown man to walk through without bending. The trio made their way onward.

After an additional ten minutes of running, they made their way out of the main sewer system and continue onward through a system of corridors made of stone and covered in thick mold. The stench and moisture of the sewers lingered, but there was no running water in sight. There they started to encounter randomly put traps. Some bear traps and compact arrow launchers were hidden into the thick mold. Although Joann wasn't good at detection of inanimate constructs, none of the traps were a serious threat to the trio.

Soon enough, they came to a large room. Four men stood ready in a scattered formation, obviously aware of their rushed approach. Berethur was thrown to the side of the room, still tightly tied to a chair. It was obvious that he was put to the side hurriedly since the chair had fallen to its side, the sorcerer was looking at the scenery sideways.

Agustin was in the front with his steel mask on with Nero to the right, wearing a vest with dozen or so kukris hanging from it. To the left was Mo beaming, in one hand an open book and a mace in the other.

Mura was silent and crouched to their sharp left, hiding behind couple rotting barrels. He was wielding double scimitars and a portable arbalest on his left wrist.

In front of Retribution was Joann, a blond beauty in tight green trousers and a plain white shirt, looking towards the men with a piercing gaze. Behind was Gallahad, or George as Retribution knew; Huffing and puffing as he carried Grendell bridal style, an obese bald man looking at Berethur with a strange glint in his eyes. Gallahad put down Grendell and unwrapped his axe from the cloth cover. Both sides stood still as they sized one another.

Augustin had thought lots of cruel humor to greet their guests but this was a more grotesque encounter than he had imagined. So a brief silence ensued instead. Surprisingly the first to move was the fat man, who bolted towards the captured sorcerer at an unusual speed.

Augustin moved forward to hold the other two in place while Nero threw two kukris towards Grendell. Mura also took action, silently launching a bolt to Grendell and moving to flank Gallahad. Directly in front of Grendell, however was Mo who charged at him with joyous laughter, swinging his mace down towards the bald head. Retribution moved efficiently, the fat man who broke formation was focused with projectiles and would be taken down with a [Blessed] mace strike from Mo, while Augustin and Nero were to directly engage Gallahad and Joann. Mura at the mean time would descend on to them from behind, landing [Crippling blows] and finishing the job.

However, things did not go as planned. First indication that Retribution may have underestimated their prey was when the women in light clothing summond thick, magnificent plate armor from thin air. Then the woman, who turned out to be some sort of knight and caster? multiplied. Two [Wind Clones] charged Nero and Augustin.

Second was when George unwrapped the largest axe Mura had ever seen and met him casually like he had been standing right in front them all along, not sneaking for a flank.

Third was when Mo landed his mace on the fatty's head with all his might, only for it to _bounce_ off like it was made of plastic. Grendell swung his arm sweeping Mo like a rag doll, throwing him towards the stone wall.

Although Grendell ran straight for it, first to reach Berethur was Joann, who popped into existence next to him. She immediately knelt and undid the restraints helping Berethur to get back up. Closer to the entrance, Mura was retreating from a Gallahad who seemed to be faster than him swinging an axe thirty times heavier than his scimitars. In the middle, Nero was going head to head with the clone using a combination of kicks and fists with an occasional kukri throw. Augustin on the other hand was decisively winning, using both his sword and spells along with his passive, moments away from scattering the clone.

Mura circled around and retreated to the side of his comrades while Berethur put himself closer towards the door whom Grendell followed and Joann came to the side of Gallahad facing the three Retribution members. As both sides regrouped, all of their attention momentarily went to Mo, who slowly rose next to the wall which he was slammed to. Though the air around him was eerie now, and for some reason, all stared at him rather than continuing with the fight. Everyone except Berethur and Grendell were seasoned fighters and their instincts yelled them that Mo somehow was the biggest threat.

The priest limped towards Grendell and Berethur, instead of his team mates. His broken arm hung limply to his side while his other arm supported his shattered ribs. As he walked forward blue flames bursted from his eyes, torching his entire head in flames moments after. Instead of scorching or melting, the flames petrified skin and flesh as they spread to engulf his entire body. The limping body crumbled but never stop moving, shedding skin and flesh as the robes were replaced by a dark suit and the head turned into the likeness of a deathly pale man. Now moving with perfectly measured steps, Edward stopped couple feet before Grendell and Berethur.

Lawyer snorted, "Do you have _any_ idea how long I have spent looking for this ugly monkey and you human?".

Edward's face and tone failed to convey any frustration as always. Anticipating this, he had chosen to sigh in order to emphasize his supposed frustration, but to his mildest disappointment it had come out like a snort.

' _Hm, I do feel my interrogations would be more fruitful if I can make them more personal through conveying some emotion. Nevertheless, that is not my forte.'_

Everyone in the room was frozen for different reasons. Gallahad was frozen in fear, but he could also feel his rage boiling, likely to dwarf his fear. Joann was thinking as hard as she can to get her crew out alive. Augustin was intrigued while Mura and Nero were baffled. Berethur looked at the person who had been the invisible hound that was released on their scent weeks ago, whom he felt its breath on his neck throughout his time on the road. Grendell just looked.

"You two will be coming with me alive, rest of you will conveniently die in this unsightly room." Edward was not a demon who left loose ends. Regardless of Demiurge-sama's orders, his responsibility given by the arch-demon now held personal importance. This affair had stayed unresolved for far too long for Edward's satisfaction. It would end here and now.

Edward looked around to the others. Staying a note longer on Joann and Gallahad's faces. The demon could see through the illusion and was mildly surprised upon noticing them. Orc should have known better than getting in his way again, no mercy this time. The knight on the other hand, was supposed to be dead. She must have used some sort of ability to tank [Judgement]'s damage.

Others in the room did not worth any particular attention. Though he particularly disliked one of the men's ugly mask. To his distaste the man addressed him.

"So who might you be sorcerer, coming to places uninvited, to business you have nothing to do with?"

He looked at the man, his vision piercing through the mask and seeing the rotting face of Augustin. Edward turned his expressionless face to the side to spare his eyes from this failure of a façade. _'Foolish of me to expect anything better within the human sewage system.'_

"Such asymmetry, such ugliness, human why don't you take it off?"

Augustin scowled at the sorcerer, stepping closer while tapping his blade to the floor. "Take what off?"

"Your face." Edward motioned towards to the closest stone wall. One of the large stone slabs came loose from its place and launched itself, aimed to tear off Augustin's head. If Augustin hadn't casted a barrier it certainly would have done the job.

Edward looked at the man disapprovingly, "Persistent as any other pestilence." More stone slabs ripped themselves from the wall, ready to be launched. Both Retribution and the rescuers had instinctively encircled the newly arisen threat. Edward twisted his lips bitterly to their efforts and blinked out of existence. He reappeared next to Berethur putting a hand to his shoulder.

"Move aside, would be awfully hard not to kill you along with the other inse-"

A large fist muffled his words as the lawyer was sent towards the other side of the room. The punch did no apparent damage, Edward slowed himself down before hitting the wall but had to use his hand to halt his body. For a second Edward looked at his hand which was buried into the disgusting green mold. Even when retracted, the disgusting green stuff lingered in his long white fingers.

"Oh, this won't do at all." _'One person is plenty enough to bring Demiurge-sama, the ape will be dying here too.'_

Grendell had put himself between Berethur and Edward, he had that crazed glint in his eyes while his fist was ready for another punch. Then whole hell break loose, Edward moved towards the center trying put distance away between him and Berethur. Grendell chased after him while Joann and Gallahad charged to the powerful demon. Couple seconds into the battle, Retribution had plainly realized that this battle was far beyond their level. Although realization came a little late.

It did not dawn upon them when Joann copied herself a dozen fold and charged. Each clone was as strong as them but they all got destroyed in Hellfire, fucking _Hellfire_ when they got closer to the Lawyer. They were too baffled to run then. When George was sent a foot deep into a solid stone wall, making a large chunk of the ceiling to collapse, they still jumped around sending bolts, kukri and spells. Nero and Mura understood they need to get the fuck out only after a stray lightning bolt deflected by Joann's sword hit their strongest member Agustin and reduced him to a dark spot on the floor. The remaining members made a run for it.

In the meantime, Edward was surprised with the amount of fight the other four was putting up. The knight seemed to be an air nymph, proving to be very elusive. She was proficient in close combat and had good gear, putting Edward in a distinct disadvantage. Same could be said for the orc too, but he simply did not have the equipment to deal noticeable amount of damage to him. The sorcerer proved to be extremely annoying as he had noticed Edward's distaste for dirt and was using magic to fling the mold towards him. It was quiet an ingenious move, although he posed virtually no threat, he still made Edward dodge or block the attacks. Lastly, the ape was outrageously strong and resilient. Their four pronged attacks made it really hard for the demon to handle them while sparing the sorcerer in this confined space. An air blast from a spell like [Objection] could surely kill his target.

So Edward continued to use the stone slabs and single target spells to handle the opposition. First one to go down was Joann, when Edward finally landed a [Hellfire] burning the knight in hell flame and then using kinesis to smash her body into the ceiling. Joann feet dangled down while rest of his body drilled into solid stone and earth.

Floating stone slabs bombarded Gallahad, with Joann gone the attack was more focused and the orc did not have time to dodge. Couple slabs got smashed midair by his axe but many more got through. First Gallahad was thrown against the wall from the impact, but the hail of stone did not cede until his body was entirely buried under the rubble.

Edward was thrown forward by a strong hit to the back of his head. He continued to trench through the stone floor for a couple feet before levitating himself back to an upright position. Demon's cruel eyes were the only indication how much suffering it wanted to inflict on this stupid beast.

[Curse: Weight of Guilt]

Gravity strengthened its pull on the beast. Grendell ran towards Edward but slowed down mid-way. His charge reduced to a jog, then a walk. Soon after Grendell began to sink into the ground due to his weight rapidly increasing. Now at a snail's pace, the beast was using his legs and arm to "swim' through solid ground.

Edward opened his hand, creating spheres of condensed gravitational energy in his palms.

[Maximize Magic: Gravity Maelstrom]

[Gravity Maelstrom]

[Gravity Maelstrom]

Grendell slumped over, he was half sunk into the ground and heavily wounded. Edward had hit him with high tier spells with the intention to kill. Beast's whole body was limp, in sharp contrast with its unyielding eyes focused on Edward. Large patches of skin and flesh had torn off with each hit, letting Grendells blood out into a puddle around him. Meantime, Joann had managed to dislodge herself from the ceiling and dropped on the floor. Though she was heavily wounded, the knight forced herself back to her feet.

' _Can't let him die…'_

With a final charge, Joann leapt towards the demon. Or so was what Edward thought. Instead, the knight charged Grendell, lifted the curse using the highest dispel spell she knew. As Grendell got back his bearings, Joann caught his eyes then pushed Humility into his hand handle first.

' _My toy'_

The beast used the flat of the divine sword to smack Joann across the room. Joann stayed down this time after a gauche landing. Berethur ran to her side but to his terror, the knight seemed awfully still.

Grendell leapt out, rising the sword high with the intention to beat life out of this annoying little man. The beast completely disregarded the pain caused by large chunks of missing flesh. Muscles bulged as the sword came down on the Lawyer.

Edward had to retreat back to avoid the damage. The sword was a divine item and with Grendell's strength, it had enough damage to cause him some concern. Grendell pushed the advantage but Edward simply retreated, kiting the beast while dozing him in [Hellfire], telekinetic strikes and [Mind Blast].

In the end, Grendell did not have the strength to continue on and fell on his knees. Edward stood in front of the beast looking down at his opponent.

"Quite a unique type of ape you are; some memorabilia would be nice."

He summoned a brief case from which he took out a large scythe as tall as him with a blade as long as his arm. He swung the scythe with deadly precision, taking the head clean off Grendell's shoulder. The head rolled for a couple feet while the body simply fell sideways to the ground.

' _Are we really going to die in this literal shithole?!'_ Berethur was feeling numb and nauseous at the same time. _'No, he said something about bringing me to someone.'_ His stomach twisted, would the latter be any better than the former? In the end, they had failed. He had failed. The hound had caught up and now he would be brought before someone to be judged for who knows what. Thing would have been very different if he had simply fled to another town, but he had gone ahead and asked for the old hag's advice. _'Bad move.'_

Edward moved towards the sorcerer who had knelt next to Joann. _'Mission completed, finally.'_ They had a long journey ahead of them, it would have been excellent if he knew the spell [Gate] but the most advanced displacement spell in Edward's arsenal was [Greater Teleportation].

"Ahem."

Edward turned around, did one of the pathetic humans came back? How foolish of them… But what he got was not what he had expected.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

*Name of Joann's sword. A divine item mentioned before Joann's first encounter with Edward.


	16. Chapter 15

Reviews:

I won't be responding to prophecies for the sake of not spoiling this humble story. Thank you for the comment though!

Thank you for the critique alassandro. Yea, I just couldn't find a way to give good proportions without sounding boring. I will take it into account as I go forward.

Chapter 15,

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Character Sheet~~

 **Blue Planet**

 **Romanticist**

 **Job** One of the Almighty 41 Supreme Beings

 **Residence** Great Tomb of Nazarick / Currently a Traveler

 **Allignment** Natural-Evil **Sense of Justice** -90 (x4 if nature is being desecrated)

 **Racial Level** Descendant (Lineage of Gods) 15

Ascended (Nature Deities) 10

Vanir 5

Others

 **Job Level** Geomancer10

Nature Molder 10

Seed (Growth) 5

Others

 **Racial Level:** 35 **Job Level:** 65 **Total Level:** 100

 **HP:** EX

 **MP:** 70

 **PHY. ATK:** 50

 **Phy. DEF:** 60

 **AGILITY:** 60

 **MAG. ATK:** 50

 **MAG. DEF:** 60

 **RESIST:** 90

 **SPECIAL:** 100

 **Background:** Blue Planet is a member of the guild Ainz Ooal Gown, one of the 41 Supreme Beings and known to be the creator of many aspects in the 6th floor of the Tomb. In real life, Blue Planet was a nature lover and his admiration reflected both to his character and his creations in Yggdrasil. Known as a romanticist by his friends, Blue planet made significant contribution to the creation of the guild base, The Great Tomb of Nazarick. It is known that one of his past time activities was to gaze at the night sky in the 6th floor of the Tomb.

His choice of character was a Descendant. The flavor text of this kin says, "In their eternal lives, many gods have partnered or copulated with mortals. Lineages originated from such cases has given fruit to individuals called "descendants". Immortal and infertile, these beings sometimes thought to bring good fortune or misfortune depending on the properties they had inherited from their distant ancestors. Being one of the worst races in early levels, descendants are seldom picked due to the dedication needed from the player to make it work. In the end however, with immaculate level distribution, one could gain access to racial traits that would provide them a very strong end game build.

Chapter 15

' _Don't know if I should be overjoyed or depressed… After that day I had become certain that my lingering consciousness would get lost in the void. Nevertheless, after who knows how long I have found myself back in this world again.'_

Blue Planet looked at the scene. The evil hung in the air with the taint of death attached to it. Weak were scattered and the strong stood over them. Though with different stakes, all of this was all too familiar. He saw a demon, before him was a sorcerer kneeled next to an unconscious knight. Both of them had their mana reserves exhausted and in bad physical condition, while the demon had taken minimal damage and still had significant amount of mana.

His intervention was needed. _'If I don't speak up, he will still notice me anyways. Besides I am quiet fonder of nymphs than of demons.'_

"Ahem"

Edward turned and looked at the tall humanoid, a waves of magical aura exuded and slammed into him. Hadn't in his wildest dreams would he have guessed to find such a dominating presence in here. But there it was, raw might exuded from this being at levels that far surpassed Edward. Even Demiurge-sama in Edward's opinion, who was in the highest echelons of demonic might would be wary upon facing what he was facing now.

The being whom Edward had no idea which race it belong to, was around his height. Its naked body was toned and muscular, but not to the extent at which it stopped being esthetically pleasing. From tip to toe, it resembled a human, with the exception of an impossibly well-structured face of a young man, having human features and elven elegance while still being neither. His face was hairless and devoid of any sign of age; long dark green hair flew down his shoulders in wild curls. The being seemed out of place in this mortal plane as much as the undead. Edward quickly realized that he would not be taking him down without using his full strength.

On the other hand, Blue Planet was still musing about where he was and what he was seeing. _'An orc under the rubble, a human and a nymph, fighting a demon in the sewers. As old as I am now, still can't help but be surprised at the conflicts fate flings me into. Presumably centuries has passed, but somethings never change…'_ His reverie was cut short as the demon before him sprung to action.

[Partial Summon: Judge's Hammer]!

Blue Planet was not armed. In fact, he was completely naked while Edward had his full legendary set equipped. All Blue Planet could do before the hit was to usher a spell to protect the other three in the room. Due to the lack of time, he took the full brunt of the strike with no physical or magical defenses active.

Edward tracked the body as it went through the ceiling and meters of dirt and continuing its trajectory over the slums, under the moonlight. The demon held chase using greater teleportation.

Blue Planet gazed at the scenery as wind raced around him. _'Humanity has progressed so much… I guess the betrayer's dream became true, while the wilderness I was so fond of has withered.'_ He scowled disapprovingly to the ugly buildings of the slums. He was still bitter because of the past events after all. While Blue Planet once again had disconnected from reality, his body fervently fixed the bones broken by the demon's attack.

Edward watched as his prey impacted on the roof of a random house. The impact sent dust, bits of wood and rubble out the windows. The familiar blue hue wrapped around his body until it turned to the likeness of a thirty feet, robed judge. Taking into account the absence of equipment of his opponent, odds were looking even for Edward.

A woman's muffled scream came from the house, and some male shouting. After a couple seconds, Blue Planet made his way out of the front door, wearing a set of pajamas. 'Jeez, this stuff is itchy.' He gave himself a measuring look. _'Well, this is better than no clothes. I would have felt really weird if I were to fight naked...Woah!'_

The Vanir looked at the giant in front of him. 'If we fight here, countless people will die.' He cracked his neck and calmed his breathing. After giving it a bit of thought, Blue Planet came up with a plan, _'I have just the right thing.'_ He focused to the mana flowing through his body. His mental focus narrowed progressively until mana moved from all around his body into his left hand, creating a small lump of energy that coursed through the veins to the palm of his hand. There it formed a single tiny bean seed.

As the Judge charged, Blue Planet carelessly flicked the seed on the ground.

[Jack's Beanstalk]

Edward was ticked by the enthusiasm and silliness of this new "threat". While this young man most definitely had power, he did not understand the predicament. _'No matter, proper etiquette can be thought.'_

The giant hammer rose high in the air and Edward charged forward. Edward smirked as the young man flicked a tiny been at his feet. Was this man suffered a severe case of pacifism? However, his amusement vanished a second later.

For the lack of a better word, the seed exploded upon touching the ground. Life flourished at a rate that was akin to the rapidness of an explosion. The tiny bean sprouted roots that were as thick as a dragon's neck into the ground while gigantic stalks that put the width of the houses along the road to shame rose ever higher towards the night sky. Amongst the stalks, the blue giant was caught and it rose to the sky amidst the stalks.

[Jack's Beanstalk] was a tenth tier spell exclusive to Vanir. It was one of the rare crowd control spells that inflicted both [Knocked up] and [Rooted] status effects to the target. With the game turning into reality, the spell had become much more versatile than it was in Yggdrasil. The Vanir jumped on to one of the branches while the beanstalk kept growing higher and higher up to the sky.

It felt… great to regain power and consciousness after a long time. With the surge of power, Blue Planet's mind was focused and clear as a crystal.

[Wood Manipulation]

The beanstalk begun to bend instead of going straight up over the clouds. The houses looked like dices at this point from where Blue Planet stood. Couple meter up, the Edward struggled fruitlessly to move out from where he was stuck, in between three gigantic spiraling trunks, and numerous thick branches. The beanstalk arched like a rainbow over the slums and all the way over the walls as it effectively sent them outside of the city. As the stalk angled lower, the head of the sprout began to motion back to the ground.

The pure magical mantel around Edward eradicated the plant touching it but the destroyed parts grew at an even faster rate, keeping the giant in place. Annoyed, all Edward could do was to embrace for the massive impact.

The tip of the stalk skewered into the farmlands surrounding the city. The impact caused tremors that could be felt from the next closest city, which was ten miles away. Unintentionally, Blue Planet had created one of the wonders of the known world, which would be named the rainbow-tree long after the events of the current times.

At the bottom of the to-be-called Rainbow Tree, Blue planet stood looking into the ground. The Judge had been pushed deep into the earth along with the first hundred meters of the stalk. While Blue Planet was musing on how to get the demon out, the ground around him broke as in response to his thoughts.

Judge lounged forward, breaking through the earth and motioning to grab the Vanir with its only remaining hand. The blue hue had been disassociated around most of the summon. Displaying a very mad Edward floating in the core. Blue Planet skillfully dodged Judges hand. The ground underneath the Vanir rose in the shape of a block, propelling Blue Planet directly towards the exposed Edward.

Before Edward could do anything, the Vanir grabbed the demon by the throat and ripped him out of his summon. Both of them fell on the ground while the remainders of the Judge dissipated into the air. Blue Planet irked upon touching Edward but did not let go.

"I sense thousands living inside your shell demon. Or should I say… Edward?" A silent battle of their wills began.

Blue Planet's character path was very similar to the character path of their beloved guild leader Momonga. They specialized deep into the territories of their respective races. Momonga, choosing skeletal mage upon the start of the game had become an Overlord, with one of the rarest specializations called Eclipse. Blue Planet, a role player as hardcore as Momonga had started with a melee specialized descendant, becoming a Vanir with the epithet of Seed. One became the master of un-life, while the other became the master of life.

Because of his mastery over life and the living, Blue Planet could bend _living_ NPCs and Mobs to his will. Within the game, the number he could control was inversely proportional to the controlled monster, human or humanoid's level.

' _Edward is level 80; it is pushing the boundaries but I think I can do it.'_

[Life Control]

They kept locked for a minute after Edward slowly released his grip on the Vanir, confusion could be seen in his pitch black eyes. Blue Planet released the demon and inspected him as he got up.

First thing Edward did was to brush of the dust over his clothes. Nothing made sense. A second before he was dying to smear the Vanir over his hammer, now he felt nothing against it. The Vanir smirked at him.

"So, how are you feelin'?"

"A little mana drained but nothing out of ordinary other than that Blue Planet-sama."

Edward took a step back upon hearing what had come out of his mouth. _'What?! Did I just give him a status check? Blue Planet? –sama?...'_

The Vanir grinned even wider. "I don't think there is any reason to keep on fighting Edward-san don't you think? How about we check on the other three you had been giving a hard time to?"

Edward couldn't help but to nod and they simultaneously teleported back to where everything had started. The sorcerer was still next to the knight, managing to look both clueless and helpless. While the pile of stone was moving ever so slightly as the orc tried to get out.

Upon seeing the Edward and post-decapitation Grendell, Berethur let out a gasp. Feeling the sorcerers tension, Blue Planet gave him a calming nod. "Don't worry, me and Edward talked this out outside."

The sorcerer looked at him unbelievingly, "I saw him launched you into the ceiling, and both of you disappeared. This whole place shook so hard afterwards that I was half sure we were going to get buried. How am I supposed to believe that he isn't a threat?"

Blue Planet had to give the man the benefit of the doubt. After all, there was no way the sorcerer could have deduced how the fight was going to end. Even he did not know what to do until Edward smashed him with the hammer and a plan clicked in his mind. _'Well I got to show that the situation is under control.'_

"Edward!" The Vanir yelled, "Give me thirty pushups."

Before the demon could say anything, he found himself laying on the dirty sewer ground. "One. Two. Three. …" Blue Planet smirked watching Edward count loudly with every new pushup.

Berethur was stunned, seeing the overpowered monster doing pushups on the ground. "I guess the situation _is_ under control." He muttered. With the possibility of imminent death out of the equation Berethur realized just what had happened. His gaze shifted at Blue Planet staying a note on his face and a whole minute on the pajamas he was wearing.

"Grendell?" Berethur whispered.

"Hm, not quite. I am Blue Planet, nice to meet you…" The young sorcerer felt an imposing aura around him "Berethur."

Blue Planet then walked over to the sword laying on the ground. The silver blade of Humility was glowing red and yellow from heat. He pondered for a second and let out an "Ah" when he realized the situation. He moved to Berethur and touched his shoulder. Upon the touch Berethur could feel his wounds healing and mana replenishing. Blue Planet then motioned at Edward. With a nod the demon levitated the rubble off of the entrapped orc. Gallahad immediately sprung up with axe in hand, only to tumble and fall back to his knees. A small line of blood trickling down the side of his mouth.

Again, upon a single touch from Blue Planet, the orcs body was mended. Gallahad looked at the Blue Planet with wide eyes, only to give a small respectful bow. When his eyes caught Edward, the air become tense again. Before anything could happen Blue Planet intervened.

"Stand down, Gallahad. Edward is under my command now."

"What about Joann?" Berethur said from the otherside of the room.

"I don't sense any life in her." Berethur looked at him in shock. "Sorry, but us Vanir's are masters of life and life only. Nothing in my abilities can bring back the dead, whom has passed onto another phase of the Cycle. What you would need is a necromancer or divine caster."

Berethur looked a little desperate, "Is there any other way?"

Blue Planet mused, "Well, there are items that can bring the dead back to life. Sadly, my inventory was scavenged ages ago. I do not have any items that might help you."

After a minute of tense silence, where neither party knew what to do next, Blue Planet Cleaned his throat. "I guess it is my time to depart. You should be good on your own, especially with a human settlement right above you." He couldn't help but say "human settlement with some spite.

Before Blue Planet could move, the sorcerer yelled again.

"Wait!"

Blue Planet raised an eye brow. "Do you have another inquiry?"

Berethur looked at the man in front of him. Although he thought of him as a man, the better word would have been male. While his gender was apparent, he highly doubted Blue Planet was human. In all honesty, it felt inappropriate to gaze to Blue Planet's figure. Although he was in pajamas, the being felt akin to the feeling one get in their life when one feels the invisible hand of fate, of god. Berethur took a moment to gather himself.

"Come with me to the floating castle."

"What?"

"You… you should come with me to the floating castle. I have made a promise."

' _Floating castle huh… A vacation after being out of commission for so long. It does sound interesting enough.'_

The Vanir tapped his chin with his finger. "Why not."

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Alright, I have been zealously sticking to cannon and trying to make everything plausible both according to the rules of physics and Overlord leveling system. If you point out grammar mistakes I will come back and fix them.

Let me know what you think about my writing. As always, thank you for reading, reviewing and (Possibly?) enjoying!

It was pointed out that divine equipment is rarer than I have thought. Fixed!


	17. Chapter 16

Reviews:

Alright, although I like to keep my storyline unspoiled. There seems to be some retorts in the reviews talking about the direction I am taking.

First of all, I do NOT like self-insert op characters, though I respect and enjoy stories that actually manage to captivate me. And none of my characters are self-insert! (though because I am writing the story, everything bound to have a touch of how I am thinking.)

Secondly, as I said in chapter 1, Ainz stomping weaklings and OP characters getting god treatment and tea-bagging people concept (or any other supreme being for that matter) is over-used, albeit satisfying to read. That is not what I intend to do.

Thirdly, while I understand some people's frustration, you should check what I have been saying in the writer's section since chapter 1. Blue Planet is not OC, he is not self-insert, he is built around his canon traits and will develop over the information provided by the Overlord universe. Also I don't see how I have made Blue Planet OP, his stats are very realistic for a CC-tank build.

If you can't see how things are going to unfold, good. That is my intention to keep the story more of an exciting read. Since my pen is not the strongest out there, element of surprise is good.

If you want a clue, think about why I brought Blue Planet into the fray and not one of the other Supreme Beings. There is a reason why I brought a romantic nature lover into the world of an undead who is slipping from his humanity.

Stories bound to have some haters, but if you are going to hate, hate for the right reasons people :^)

Without further a due,

Chapter 16

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Gallahad had left for the Nameless Mountains. The orc rejected the proposal of traveling with Edward.

"I have seen the mightiest of all. Now I understand there is no shame in my weakness. I will go back to my people and share my knowledge as I have once done. And this time when the savage orcs spill out of the Nameless Mountains, we won't be forced back in."

….

"Umm, shouldn't we have buried her? I mean, I don't know wherever you have put her in would count as a proper burial." Berethur retorted.

"Ah, you have naught to worry about Berethur." The Vanir replied cheerfully. "I guarantee that my pocket dimension is as comfortable as any coffin out there. Plus, I don't remember any floating castles in my days. However, I do recall many from days that are even more ancient. If my guess is correct, bringing her along may turn out to be very fruitful."

All Berethur could do was nod, and firmly hold on to the feathers beneath him. They were currently travelling on a giant eagle; he had mounted on the beast's neck while Blue Planet was sitting further back in a relaxed position. Unlike his experience with the Pegasus, couple spells from Blue Planet had made Berethur's experience similar to an airplane flight, -not that he would know what that would be like-.

Couple meters away, Edward was flying on top of his luggage. _'Only gods know how that works.'_ Berethur mused. Blue Planet looked at one of the maps Joann had bought while Berethur opened his book to study its content.

Blue Planet looked at the maps in reverie, _'Slain Theocracy, Re-Estize Kingdom and the Baharut Empire in the middle of the continent. To the Southeast, Roble Holy Kingdom. To the Northwest presumably the land of the Republic. To the Northeast lies the Agrand City Alliance and to the Southeast lies the Draconic Kingdom…. Since I am gone, humans have monopolized the lands it seems. I guess your wish have come through…'_ Blue Planet's face was bitter sweet with conflicting feelings about his past.

'That day…' He remembered the surging lands around him, the surface reduced to rubble. _'I could not dodge…'_ He remembered his descent from the sky onto the sinking lands, consumed by masses of water. A figure most noble stood in the air, his broken sword hanging limply to his side while his blood soaked armor shone through the gaps. Blue Planet's last vision before his consciousness was reduced to a beast's and he became captive inside his own body.

He knew his only escape would have been death. But with the powers of the sword humility given to him by Joann, the Vanir was reborn after his sought after death in the hands of his newest minion, Edward. In a way, Blue Planet owed his life to the dead nymph, and he was determined to repay his debt.

Once again lost in his thoughts, Blue Planet shook his head and returned to inspecting the map. _'And this, is where we are headed, he traced from their approximate location to the southernmost end of the map. The Floating Castle.'_ He then inspected the red circle drawn on the map. The circle covered some mountain ranges, part of a forest and parts of the plains in between the three large nations of men. The circle was added most recently, spelling out sorcerous kingdom in ink that was foreign to the rest of the map. _'Hm, that seems to be a recent edition… Anyways, I will visit and see them all in due time.'_ He stretched and looked around. _'This time around I won't be messing with the affairs of the people of this world. In the end, we players are an abnormality. Although I am a Vanir, I am not part of this world's natural balance. I have to remind myself that.'_

While Blue Planet was glancing around, his extremely sharp eyes caught on to what Berethur was reading, which nearly made him fell off the eagle. He quickly recomposed himself. _'Can it be…'_

"Hey Berethur, would you mind telling me about what you are reading?"

Berethur seemed more apprehensive than ever when he heard Blue Planet's request. After a moment of silence Berethur slumped his shoulders. "Well, it isn't a secret or anything I guess. This," he raised the book proudly in his hand, "Is one of the few books on wild magic. The magic of the ancient times, before the tiered magic came to this world."

Blue Planet listened keenly to his every word. "I see, mind if I take a look?"

Berethur handed the book with badly concealed uneasiness.

"Merlin Monroe…" Blue Planet's eyes widened while skimming over the pages, "This book is written by one of those shitty devs! Moreover, it is a volume of Yggdrasil commands and source codes!" Naturally, all the developers of Yggdrasil had in game accounts. It wasn't a big stretch of imagination that one of the players who ended up in the new world would be a developer. The work seemed to focus on an exit plan from this world back to earth. Though as Blue Planet moved to the latter pages, the developer's desperation became more apparent from the ink stains, scratched over notes and curses to his own faith covered around the actual contents of the book. _'He was looking for a way out of this reality, hence his study of the game's codes…'_

"Can you read this?" He asked to Berethur.

The sorcerer moved uncomfortably, "Not really, but I managed to decipher some words and their meanings."

"I can even cast spells using wild magic." Berethur added proudly.

Blue Planet tapped his chin as he thought. "Can you show me?"

Berethur nodded. After a bit of thinking on his part, he decided on showing this god-like being one of his fancier spells. "I used this not a long time ago," He pointed his finger away from the eagle and focused.

"[Explosio]" Couple yards away, air exploded with a loud bang. The blast would have definitely hurt humans and low level monsters.

"Hmm, pretty deadly." Blue Planet said, acknowledging Berethur's hard work. _'Wonder how strong my "explosion" would be as a level 100 player if I were to cast it. Man this is getting me excited! Berethur, let me show you the might of Blue Planet, level 100 master PKer and old member of the once badass guild Ainz Ooal Gown!'_

"Let me try." Blue Planet pointed his long elegant finger into the distance with the air of a king, with a booming voice he said the word,

"Explosio!"

…and nothing happened. Berethur couldn't help but smirk. "Blue Planet-san you need to write the runes down first to cast it. It is very impractical so I have written the necessary runes and made it into a booklet."

"Ah…" Blue Planet quickly dropped his finger feeling pretty embarrassed because of his ignorance. His failure must have entertained Berethur, since he tried his best to explain and unchained the small booklet on his hip and give it to him. He moved to the side of the Vanir and opened the necessary page.

' _This is coding language?! Just like the stuff within the book. So he deduced the meaning of the coding, and by using his life force he is basically turning commands in to real life actions! This is most likely the result of game becoming reality. This guy is smarter than I have thought!'_

"Now Blue Planet-san, focus on the action you wish to happen while touching the paper. You should not focus your energy on your finger tip. It is just a pointer to help your brain direct the necessary action to that certain point. If one cannot set up a plan in his brain first, the spell usually goes off right next to you or right on the paper. Trust me I know" Berethur reminisced his failed attempts. "Instead, pour your energy onto the words and symbols, while imagining what you want to happen."

Encouraged by Berethur's help, Blue Planet pointed his finger into the sky again. With an even louder voice he yelled,

"[Explosio]!"

A tiny flame erupted at the tip off his finger and quickly turned into smoke with a "puff".

Berethur sweat dropped while Blue Planet covered his face in shame. "Fuck, what am I doing wrong again?"

Berethur mused, "Well, you have to vividly imagine what you want to happen, if not the spell won't go off due to insufficient input. I have observed dozens of real life explosion in my church's lab to understand the details of the phenomena. I also studied the chemistry behind it. The more you know, the better is the process of turning your imagination into reality."

The sorcerer paused and made a different suggestion, "Maybe you should try something you have personally seen a lot of times Blue Planet-san? I have other runes in this booklet."

' _It is easy for you to ask but I have forgotten most of my human life on earth besides the stuff about Yggdrasil And in my time in this world I have always used tiered spells, which neither requires imagination nor strictly follow the laws of physics. Hell, I don't even remember my own name from back then… Ugh, I don't think I am going to get this before getting to the Floating Castle. Wait…Float!'_ Blue Planet's eyes widened as he got a new idea.

"Berethur, do you have a float or fly command in there?"

"I think so," Berethur confirmed. "That is a good idea, it is less complicated then creating an explosion." He quickly opened another page and handed the booklet back to Blue Planet, also handing him his quill.

This time Blue Planet had an actual plan. There were presumably many ways one can float something but he thought about the one thing that everyone in the world was quite familiar with. Gravity. He imagined weightlessness, thinking about the invisible force that pulled on ones every particle towards the core of the planet. Then imagined it ceasing to exist.

Seeing the Blue Planet is ready, Berethur gave him an encouraging nod. "The word is Jaana."

Blue Planet focused on the quill on his right hand and poured his energy into the page in his left hand.

"[Jaana]"

When the Vanir moved his hand, the quill simply hung in the air. Like invisible strings held it in its place. Berethur moved his hand above and under it. The movement of his hand made the quill float around in the large bubble Blue Planet had casted around the two.

Blue Planet grinned widely, "That Berethur, is pretty cool."

…

They were in a small ten feet to ten feet room. Mura and Nero had tried to let loose from the binds that held them tightly sitting in their respective metal chairs but they have long given up on that happening. In front of them sat a raven haired man in black robes. He was writing something onto the documents on the metal table in between them. Behind them couple more figures were standing while the side of the room a woman wearing the same black robes as the man was leaning against the wall, playing with a small cubic device in her hand. From her agitated movements, one could understand that she had been working on that for a long time, but to no avail.

After some time with only sound coming from the scratch of the quill over the paper, the man spoke again.

"Tell me what happened yesterday night."

"We have fucking told you fifty times already." Mura hissed to the man.

"Uh uh uh, you should watch your language Mura-san. Do you want me to send you two downstairs again?

Both Mura and Nero gasped, "No no no, ok. So it all started wi-"

"Shut up, let Nero tell it this time." The man intervened.

"Aye thir." Nero replied, his face was swollen and it was hard for him to speak normally.

After listening to the two for one more hour, the group exited the small room.

"All this makes no sense to me. I really don't think they were agents of that monstrosity." The raven haired man spoke in an exasperated tone. "Maybe it wasn't them who put that landmark there.

"Do you think it was one of the Dragon Lords then? There is nothing natural about it. It would have taken massive amounts mana and s god-like spell."

"I don't know." The man pressed his fingers over his eyes. And let out a sigh. "And do you know what the best part is. The beans."

"The beans?" The other robed figured responded, slightly appalled.

"It is a fucking beanstalk Lavenus, that is what that hellish plant is." He let out another sigh.

' _So much for the experimental "Sunlight Scripture."_ _Moreover, now we got more things to worry about besides Ainz and his undead.'_

"We should join the search, according to the intel, none of them from the group could do such a thing. Maybe that person they mentioned in the weird black clothing. There are possibly two different groups in play here." Lavenus interjected.

"Ugh, unlikely. We tracked the hole from the sewers. The the trajectory fits to the arc that ends at the house."

"Were the inhabitants interrogated?"

"Yea."

"So what did they see?"

He gave Lavenus a deadpan stare and spoke. "Someone fell from the sky and stole the man's pajamas while he was still wearing them."

"Oh… makes sense." The raven haired man left Lavenus in his pondering and walked ahead.

The girl in the black robes filled Lavenus's place next to the man. "So, someone flung a man from ten yards underground to a house hundred yards away. Then the guy smashed into the house, stole the owner's pajamas and grew a beanstalk. Did I get the situation right?"

The man sighed but nodded. "Yes."

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Here you go a new short chapter since I am done with most of my labs. Also I wanted to clear thing up. Thank you for both the positive and the negative reviews. It is very fun to read your predictions but I can confidently say none of them are close to what I am planning. See you next (possibly) week!

If you catch any grammar mistakes, let me know and I will fix it.


	18. Chapter 17

Reviews;

No1Gamer89, thetabularasa, RyuujiVantek; thank you for your reviews, predictions and arguments. I think you can all satisfy your discussions by just reading the story, so I won't be addressing them here! But as always, thank you for dropping a review and sharing your thoughts.

mario, it did show it as a recent addition, written in red ink. It is in the chapter. Also it takes time to draw maps. It is more likely than not for maps to not have Sorcerous Kingdom. Especially taking into consideration that one would have to travel there to draw out the concise location of the borders.

Thank you for loving my average story and the review!

Alassandro, Blue Planet can dominate the living up to mid-level 90s and can put some nasty mental status effects up to level 100. He doubted if he can control Edward because levels aren't the only indicator of whether he can control a living being. Some skills that could possibly make an individual immune to mental effects or if one dumps enough levels into will so that his will modifier is really high, domination might not work. He wasn't sure because he did not know the exact character build of Edward. About thetabularasa's information, I was not sure so I have changed it just in case because it made sense. Then he/she clarified it so Edward now has a legendary set.

Shalltear, I would refrain from being bitter as much as you are, since it is a good reflection of a shit personality. I do not mind you disliking my ideas about the story, you are free to do so and you are making some people laugh with your "stories". Those are fine, but posting a negative comment in every new Overlord fic just because they don't do what you want is just some next level childishness. I don't like some stories either, but that doesn't mean such stories are necessarily counterproductive for the community. Live and let live man. All I can do is let you know what I think and hope that you can reflect on it. Thank you for your review, I appreciate your purist approach to Overlord.

The true god, thank you for the compliment! I am not intent on fucking up anything haha, also Blue Planet isn't an op character. He is as strong as what you should expect from a guild member. If you think he is op from what you have read so far, do enlighten me on how so. Like thetabularasa did with Edward's equipment and alassandro did with timeline, I appreciate reader's help about the Overlord universe.

Beware, rant incoming~~

When I read the comments, I do see that there is a phobia developed in the community about OC characters. Some people hate to see (it bothers me too frankly) someone self-inserting an op character make it so that all world building by Murayama goes into gutter and the story solely becomes this shallow character's adventures. Most of these stories in my opinion are seen as the writer handling their own god complex. Indeed, there is more to Overlord than "I am strong, so I can do whatever I want to others and others are entitled to worship me.". Ironically, most of the staunchest Overlord purists do the same thing with Ainz, put themselves in his shoes and sate their egos. That is why they get so mad when they read a writer do the same with another character. Their fragile egos take a hit. In BOTH cases, I do not think that someone trying to fondle their own or reader's ego is a bad thing. What I think most people mix this with is immature writing, bad character progression and no substance and sense in how created characters act. To sum up, what makes the story good or bad is exclusively the skill and imagination of the writer, not OPness or OCs. There are great fanfics that has OCs within it especially in the crossovers, great fanfics with many guild members present and there are also great fanfics that only has Ainz in it and have minor OCs. But NO fanfic can be a fanfic without OCs and/or writer interpretations!

This is my humble attempt, to write a journey, and just that. I don't expect it to be top tier writing but it is definitely not going to become an op self-insert story. This will be the foundation for my attempt for a volume 12, if real life responsibilities allow and I have the drive to do so, that second part will start to be published after August. Which means we have nearly come to the end of Pilgrimage!

Chapter 17

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Matella Mundi took her time as she walked to the throne room. Although Joann had implored her to be silent about the evil that had gripped the kingdom by the balls, she had heard naught from the knight for four months. Was the Knight Captain remained silent or was silenced, Matella did not know. However, as an elite and patriot, no one in her shoes would have refrained from taking action for such a long period of time; while seeing the changes Roble was going through.

With fiery speeches and promises, the impostor Thull have puppeteered the entire country for the conquest of the wild lands that laid between Roble and the rest of the civilization. With the masked devil Jalbadaoth's guidance, massive furnaces and never-seen-before machinery was built all around the country, where mostly the elderly, women and children worked sixteen hour shifts. The male population was shifted from farms and shops to border cities next to the Great Wall. The factories armed these men, building the biggest war machine Roble has ever created in its history. The Crusade was made of hundred thousand soldiers scattered along the key points of the Great Wall and around four hundred thousand support, machinery, logistics and scouting units. The reorganization of the military by the demon Jalbadaoth was advanced way beyond the strategy and tactics of Roble's generals whom were somewhat functioning as vessels to give out the orders of the masked demon. The upcoming wars were not the only thing that concerned Matella.

For a month now, nonhumans were being sent to camps established all across to country, never to be heard from again. After using her divination spells, Matella had discovered that none of these buildings were big enough to hold onto the influx of nonhumans coming in. Of course, with divination magic being a rare quality among sorcerers and sorceresses, people were unaware about this possibly morbid situation. Who knew how the gathered up nonhumans were treated? For all she knew, they could even be skinning them alive there.

The corridor she was currently walking in was adorned with the pictures of the royal family on both sides. The ancestors of the former great king of Roble Holy Kingdom, King Adlai. King was now retired and was cut off from all functions of Lloyd Castle. In a way, this made it easier for the king to make his own moves. A month after contacting Joann, Matella had begun to help the slowly growing resistance and doubters among the elites within and outside of the Lloyd Caste. Former king Adlai included.

It had been her efforts, along with her friend Orello Federick and a couple other elites that made it possible to create the secret group Libera. Through meticulous planning and secrecy, they had been working to create a strong front against Thull. Now after the organization was month and a half old, she had been summoned by the emperor to his quarters. Matella thought about what Joann had said to her on the day of coronation. _'Were we found out? Will he try to make me talk about the resistance? Regardless of the inquiry, they won't be getting anything out of my old bones.'_

Those were Matella's thoughts as she entered the Emperor's Quarters. Thull was sitting on a chair, still in full gear at the end of the large suite. His hand wearing a gauntlet which was designed to resemble the talons of a bald eagle rested on the handhold of his chair while his gloved hand rested on the pummel of his golden sword. With a slight nod, Thull ordered the Elite to come closer.

Matella approached to the traitor, barely containing her animosity. Many other elites that sided with King Adlai suggested confrontation. However, she knew better than to openly oppose the impostor. Even with the couple meters between them, Thull's raw power was oppressive to the degree that breathing was a legitimate difficulty. After a brief pause, the Emperor spoke.

"This country will become great again Matella. This is the inevitable course of events that fate has in store for us. With the loyal subjects of Roble, we will do great things, it is going to be magnificent."

Thull leaned his head forward slightly.

" But as always, even our own kin, some of our fellow citizens and elites have been jealous of the progress we have achieved under my directive. Consequently, I have heard that many Fake News have begun to circulate. That is not good." Silence followed as the old sorceress stood in a loss of words.

Matella held her breath as the piling pressure washed over her. She couldn't help but be angry at how this person was completely terrifying her although he was just a charlatan. _'He knows. I will be interrogated and executed. Should I just try to take him on? If I am going to die, I rather prefer to spit on that face before getting arrested.'_

Upon evaluating her chances of winning, Matella had to bitterly accept that she could not even scratch Thull. Impostor or not, this being was still too powerful for a sorceress specialized in divination. Completely negligent of her inner turmoil, Thull spoke again.

"…This is why Matella, I have chosen you to regulate the conduct of your fellow elites. After all, information gathering is your specialty."

"What?" Matella couldn't help to look dumbfounded.

Thull scowled at her, nodding slowly "I know, it should be hard for you to learn that not all of your comrades are loyal to the throne and heretics to your belief. I will give you a day to process this information, but you are expected to start working on this subject as soon as possible."

All the sorceress could say was a weak "Yes, your majesty."

After the elite had left, Eggy contacted Demiurge.

"I have poked them as you have requested Demiurge-sama."

"Good, they have been really slow with the resistance." It was part of the plan. To control the fools and distance the strong willed and intelligent. This was a necessary compromise for his plans to work.

' _Being blind followers of a false god sealed their fate. They might not know they are wrong; they might not be smart enough to realize the falsehoods in their ideology, but that doesn't mean they are not responsible.'_ The idea was to show mercy to the ones who had the will to denounce their own god. They will be the one that will be accepted into the kingdom come of Ainz-sama. The rest were to be used as stepping stones and the victims for Demiurge's experiments. Even now, with the concentration camps created for nonhumans, Demiurge had discovered that humanoids also were good raw material for scrolls.

' _The biggest move is yet to come, time to change the borders of the New World.'_ With the raise of his hand, the massive iron gates of the Great Wall opened. A sea of spears moved forth on to the wild lands from Roble, upon the request of their Emperor. In between regiments large war machines cavalry and support units were stationed. Demiurge realized the greatest strength of humanity for the first time since he had arrived this world as he watched the men march onward with conviction. Unity. Humans were laughably weak and pathetic. May be that was the reason why they so instinctively yearned to be a part of the whole.

This action was imitated along the wall in couple kilometer intervals. Roble was pouring out of its borders.

…..

The massive chunk of earth hanging in the sky was visible know although they still had a long way to go. Berethur had been travelling with his new company for a week know, flying non-stop on top of the eagle Blue Planet had summoned. The young sorcerer had thought that he had gotten used to feeling small as fate had thrown more and more events and people that exceeded his grandest dreams. Berethur felt bad recalling how he had thought when he was studying in the church. _'I thought I was a rare talent; thought I knew better than others. Now I see that strength is relative, only reason some humans think they are mighty is because they are too dumb or ignorant to realize that there is always someone mightier.'_

He was now riding on a giant eagle with a being that stated he was the master of life like it wasn't anything substantial. Not too further away, a demon was matching their speed while standing upright on a fucking luggage. Berethur could not imagine how he can feel smaller after experiencing this.

The new group was now riding over the desert. Up until the massive chunk of Earth hanging in the sky and the small figures of buildings under it, sand had claimed the entirety of their vision. Here and there, one could see the tips of buildings and towers swallowed up by the sand. Berethur decided to learn more from the Vanir until they arrive to the floating city. Blue Planet was probably the best person to ask if one wanted a true perspective on what was truly powerful. Maybe he should start by asking how did Blue Planet matched up with Edward?

"Ahem, Blue Planet-san?"

The Vanir came out of his own thoughts, "Yes?'

"I know you and Edward did not start on the best foot, but you managed to switch him to our side without a scratch. I was curious, how powerful you are compared to him. I also would like to know where we humans stand compared to the other races of the world. Surely, you are the person to ask this since you have mastery over the living, if you don't mind me asking of course" Berethur added hastily.

"Ah, it is only natural, I don't mind." Vanir waved his hand dismissively

"Plus, you thought me some wild magic so it would be unbecoming of me if I did not teach you something in return." Blue Planet tapped his chin as he tried to remember information from his past life and from Yggdrasil days.

"Well… Although it is not an ever-accurate measure, one can put as far as I know; all living and unliving hosts of this world on a level one to a hundred scale. For your first question, there are twenty levels between me and Edward. According to the scale you may think that means I am one fifths stronger than him but along with levels, abilities of the individual also get stronger and new abilities are acquired. As a result, I am quite a bit more powerful than him."

"There are many other major factors and millions of small nuances that determine your actual capabilities though." _'Yggdrasil always offered an immense variety of classes and builds, such that it was possible that no two character would be identical and still the game would be balanced.'_

"I have not been to many places since I have regained consciousness. Travelling via air is not helping much either, but from what I have sensed along the way, not much has changed since my days. I think I can confidently say that the average level of most beings in this world are around level nine to fifteen. For humans, the average range is probably level four to ten. There are of course exceptions."

Berethur thought about this new information. _'Everything is so low leveled…and humans are even lower in average.'_

"Uh, if you can…" Berethur gave him a reserved look, "can you tell me my level?"

"Haha!" Blue Planet laughed loudly, "I knew you would be curious about it but you don't have to be scared Berethur. You are currently level twenty-one, which is not at all bad for a human. Quite exceptional actually."

The sorcerer looked thoughtful. "How about Edward?"

"Well, let's not go that fast my boy." Blue Planet chuckled. "I think it is better for you to focus on your development, it won't help you to know Edward's level."

' _That high huh…'_

The Eagle began to descend since there was a mere kilometer between them and the city now.

"Wouldn't it be better to just fly to the castle? We will have to do that at some point anyways."

"It is not sound to just fly over the city when we do not know what is living there. This place feels more dangerous than the kingdom and the elven woods we have flown over. In addition to that, there is a dome surrounding the city. I do not know if the eagle can go through it."

' _Barrier? I do not see anything…'_ Berethur looked carefully into the air albeit in vain.

They unmounted a hundred yard away from where the walls stood.

Blue Planet inspected the air while his fingers massaged his chin. "Hmm…"

The Vanir made a poking gesture with one of his long fingers. To Berethur's surprise, a small red hue appeared around the finger. After a moment of pause, the Vanir stepped forward, the red hue enveloping a different section of his body in every inch forward. After he was through, everything became as unsuggesting as before.

Prompted by his gesture, Edward and Berethur passed through the invisible barrier too. Rather, tried to. Berethur was promptly ejected back out. Although he wasn't hurt, the barrier was not letting him pass into the city. After multiple attempts, all the sorcerer could do was to look at the other two dejectedly.

' _I can't leave the guy there when he suggested me to come here at the first place. But I am worried what would happen if I dispel or tinker with the barrier's conditions… Eh fuck it.'_

Blue Planet conjured a small bubble which got larger and larger and the red hue hovering around the bubble suggested an opening for the sorcerer to pass through. Indeed, Berethur was not ejected this time. All three had entered through the city's presumable first line of defense.

Blue Planet was half expecting some complications but nothing happened until they entered the city through the open gate. Vanir raised an eyebrow to the scene they were in while Berethur stared aghast. Edward wore a tiny scowl at the side of his lips but unsurprisingly, was expressive as rock.

The city was bustling. Merchandise was being exchanged at a small bazaar to their right while guards did their duty alongside the first couple meters of the road. Many were walking to their destinations. A city as crowded as any other large human settlement. Ironically, there were no humans though.

Sand. Figures in the likeness of people, made entirely of sand moved to their daily business. As far as their vision went, sandmen played their part in this gigantic theatre. While there was movement, the whole place was eerily devoid of any sound besides puffs of sand feet, sounds as merchandise moved from one sand hand to the other, sound the cloth made as sandmen moved and from the cart that was pulled over an adjacent road, by sand horses. They were completely ignored.

"Uh ok, let's move on." Blue Planet walked forward into the city as the silent inhabitants went on their business. Their footsteps joined the music of Eryuentiu.

"So Edward, tell me a little about yourself. Besides the basics that I already know." Blue Planet attempted to break the eerie silence.

"I am a lawyer working for Devil-san. Or rather was. I don't feel a thing towards him anymore. Neither towards you, but your voice has something compelling in it."

Blue Planet slapped his forehead.

"Oooh you are a summon!" Because of his racial traits, Blue Planet had a passive to see the stats and names of living beings. However, that did not give him a clue about whether something was a summon or not. Although he should have remembered this summon from Yggdrasil, it had been ages since he had played the game. The absence of arcdemons whom are the only race that can summon this specific NPC in the New World did not help refresh his memory either.

Now however… "So an arcdemon huh." _'Another player?...'_ Blue Planet was intrigued.

"Would you tell me more about your summoner Edward?"

He nodded sideways, "I would, but I cannot. I am a lawyer Blue Planet-sama, information on my clients is forever confidential. As you should now, restrictions on classes can be quite binding."

Blue Planet nodded, scowled as he inspected his surroundings. "Indeed indeed, we will simply have to accept that you can't help us on that respect. Besides, I think we have a more immediate problem."

Berethur's eyes darted around anxiously and settled on the Vanir upon his declaration.

"It seems so Blue Planet-sama." Edward agreed in his nasal, uncaring tone.

"This is the fifth time this cart passed next to us. Many of the clothing does not change too. It seems everything is moving with us."

The news sent a chill down Berethur's spine. What kind of fucked up thing was going on? Although he wished for the best, he knew the worst would happen due to his awful luck. Fate agreed with him as many of the sandmen just started to blatantly follow them as they went deeper and deeper into the city.

When they arrived to a large town square, the massive crowd of sandmen were just walking along with the group. Unphased, Blue Planet and Edward walked right into the empty square. Berethur was walking couple inches behind the Vanir, his sweaty hand on his booklet.

' _This is fucking terrifying.'_ Blue Planet would have agreed with his thought if he was still human. But being level hundred really limited the amount of hazards one could face. Considering he had Edward with him too, they did not lack in strength.

The sand began to gather in the middle of the square and their followers finally cut in front of them. Now all three were circled by a tightly knit wall of sandmen. Sand piled on one another until a large wiggling hill stood in the middle of the square. Countless weapons were poking out of the hill and its tendrils. The sandmen revealed weapons and armor as their sand bodies morphed, as well.

"Ahhh, it is an old sand slime! That was quite an ingenious trap for a race with no brain. Morphing tendrils into human figures! These things have always been really rare and exceptional." Blue Planet seemed to be excited. "Pretty hostile too." He added in a more thoughtful tone.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Thank you for reading. As always drop a review and let me know what you think!

Would be glad if you point out any grammar mistakes too~


	19. Chapter 18

Reviews;

That was rather thought provoking alassandro, I will take it into account as I move forward. I also have my own theories about the presence of PDL and about the floating/flying (pick whichever since both mean the same in this case) castle/city (pick one since both makes sense from a cannon perspective.). Although I will be staying cannon when such information is provided, you might be surprised about what I will be bringing to the table :^)

Glad that you have enjoyed it Varcisis! I have fixed the mistake you have pointed out.

I think I should also apologize for the distasteful comment in my review section. That might have soured the mood of you readers so, sorry for the inconvenience. Internet is a wonderful thing, it connects people who like the same things and people who think alike, but it also connects you to morons that you would have been spared from in real life. In my eyes, it is a necessary sacrifice. Please don't take my response to him as my default to how I treat people that critique my writing. On the contrary, I hope to hear your thoughts in the comment section as always.

This will be a short chapter since I am busy nowadays.

Chapter 18

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[Granite Tomb], four triangular granite slabs tore themselves out of the ground. The massive chunks converged in the foci, creating a pyramid.

[Stone Manipulation], a hole in the massive construct appeared right before Edward and another appeared at the top.

[Tainting Flame], Edward blew blue scorching fire into the small opening while fresh air exited out from the top, leaving a blazing inferno inside the granite pyramid.

The makeshift oven glowed red as the heat inside sky rocketed. Sand turned into hardened black sludge and life within was extinguished. Blue Planet made a sour face as he glared at the tomb he created. _'Shame, these creatures are rare to come by.'_

The derelict city had attracted beasts and wild life of the dunes that surrounded it. The desolate landscape had attracted sand slimes, giant scorpions and some anubii*. Their territorial nature however, became a serious health hazard before Blue Planet and Edward. Berethur was surprised how in sync the duo were when unfortunate beasts attacked their group. This was due to the pros of the Vanir's skill set.

While regular undead, demon and bestial summons usually acted according to orders given through the mental link; Blue Planet's conversion enabled the duo to sync their actions simultaneously. This gave rise to some nasty combos. The deadly wildlife that tried to struck down the trio quickly became dead wildlife.

Promptly dealing with any disturbances, the group moved onwards deeper into the city. As they got closer to Eyuentiu's heart, the buildings began to pile on top of each other. Progressively, they moved towards the floating castle. The air became thick and malicious as they rose higher. Echoes of a tragic past and whispers could not only be heard, but felt all around them in the lonely city. No wild life was present around these parts and it was understandable. Something that one may find difficult to name had made this place uninhabitable. Although it put all three of them on edge, Blue Planet still led the way up and forward. But suddenly, the climb stopped.

Both Blue Planet and Berethur held their breaths before the sight while Edward instinctively summoned his briefcase, ready for battle. Bitter feelings, hatred, resentment and sorrow hung over the pitch black mouth beneath the floating castle. Under the floating city stood a five-kilometer-wide darkness, like the planet was stabbed with a pike and the wound left a gaping hole. The horror in the air was so dense that Berethur was barely managing to hold down the bile in his throat.

As a Vanir, Blue Planet was not really fond of negative energies. This place however, seemed to be seething with it. He could feel it. People like him, players had been here. And more importantly, died here. _'A graveyard of players'_ It made him nauseous to think, but this was the final resting place for his fellow people from earth. Came to this world, and died full of regrets. Blue Planet looked at the floating chunk of earth with a scowl and pursed lips.

Under their feet, earth trembled and groaned. Berethur knew that undead spawned in areas dense with negative energy. Hence, he instinctively knew that whatever was rising from the darkness, was not something he wanted to be near, or even see.

"Berethur I want you to retreat back, me and Edward will handle this. Then we will get our answers. I promise." The Vanir gave Berethur a radiant smile that washed away his terror. The sorcerer gave Blue Planet a nod before vanishing back into the buildings.

Numerous golden magic circles with runes and incomprehensibly complicated shapes encircled the Vanir as he looked back towards the hole. Next to him, Edward was similarly encircled in blood red runes and shapes that restlessly revolved around his body. "Let's clear this area up shall we?"

Edward nodded a quick affirmative.

…

Berethur cautiously retreated back down the street they had come from. From where he stood, a large chunk of the city laid beyond his feet. Completely deserted. _'Maybe that barrier was there not to keep things from going in, but to keep things from going out…'_ After what he had seen. It made an awful lot of sense. Whatever undead remained or spawned from the remnants of the old civilization, Berethur trusted the strength of Blue Planet and Edward. Without a doubt, he would have stopped his journey then and there if only Joann, Gallahad and good old Grendell was accompanying him. But having the master of life and an overpowered demon on his side was rather encouraging. Berethur still could not believe how fate had put the three of them together.

As he walked further down and away from his party, huge tremors followed by a gargantuan explosion made him threw himself on the ground. A burning, gigantic femur bone lodged itself couple feet away from where he laid on the ground showering him with parts of the pavement. With the help of the immediate adrenalin rush, the young sorcerer bolted towards the nearest building on all fours.

Berethur busted open the unlocked door and took cover next to the wall. He waited, jaw clenched and eyes closed for another explosion but all there was were distant tremors and bone chilling roar coming from the distance. The sorcerer opened his eyes, slowly becoming aware of the room he was in. A spacious entrée with a moth eaten carpet and a tall closet with flaked red paint. The strange thing was the faint light hitting to one side of the walls.

'A fire? Here?' It was likely some burning debris had made its way through the other side of the building. Berethur moved in to the room with the source of light to confirm his suspicion. Instead, he found a man in battered plate armor sitting comfortably next to a camp fire. The armored figure inspected Berethur through the slits of his helmet.

"Was it your friends that tried to blew this forsaken city up?"

…

Bone giants and undead arachnids climbed from the sides while bone dragons, wraiths and bone vultures flew. Behind all the lesser and mid-level undead, a colossal figure approached. While many undead climbed and flew out of the darkness in order to reach Blue Planet and Edward, just standing upright sufficed for the monstrosity. Blue Planet could recognize the undead as a Titan, a racial trait that could be obtained after choosing a character of the giant race. To be honest, Blue Planet blamed himself for the predicament they were currently in. It wasn't a stretch of imagination that his immense life energy had agitated the undead. Now, it was on them to put them back to their slumber.

Over-tier abilities usually had long channeling times and much longer cool downs. Moreover, while such spells did not require mana, one could only cast a finite number of the same spell within one day. The undead they were facing were naturally spawned aside from the colossal undead. With his spells, Blue Planet could see the [Cursed] status on the titan. The Vanir vaguely recalled an infamous over-tier spell that made a character fight for the caster upon the character's death. This abomination remained in this world after death due to the real world complications of the over-tier spell, [Loyalty of the Dead]. By using the spell [Discern Enemy], Blue Planet noted that the titan used to be level one hundred.

' _Kill'_ That was the sole command within the Titan's consciousness. A centuries-old command given by Shurshana, a curse stuck to it even after the defeat of the necromancer. So the Titan obeyed, moving steadily towards the two small figures on the edge of the gaping hole. The body of the colossus was shriveled, grey skin sagging down. From its shoulders hung a majestic dark-purple cape. Due to the size, the cape looked like a violet waterfall streaming down into the darkness that came around the waist of the Titan: [Greater Cape of Authority]. Golden [Bracelets of Might] adorned its wrists and the colossus dragged the divine item [Meteor Sword], a sword that looked more like a massive, triangular slab of stone. Like many magical items, none of the equipment showed signs of aging or wear.

Blue Planet's channel ended after a brief two minutes within which he had examined the enemy. Edward however was still channeling something massive. This was all due to the Vanir's battle plan. Although Blue Planet was level hundred and an extremely skilled player –like any other member of the infamous guild Ainz Ooal Gown-, he had specifically built his character as a tank and cc specialist.

Specialization was a must for the best of the best since one could not reach the true potency of a build without stunting certain aspects of the character. While this did not require you to be a filthy min-maxer like Ulbert, one had to determine his/her focus and surround him/her with players that make up for their weaknesses. In their current situation, although Edward was level eighty, his super tier abilities were more damage oriented than Blue Planet's. This is why the Vanir determined to deal with the small fry and keep the Titan busy until Edward can smack it with the big guns.

Currently wearing a dirty set of pajamas, Blue Planet was severely under-equipped compared to the undead colossus. That is why he chose an over-tier ability that put massive buffs to his base attributes. The Vanir smirked at the Titan and cracked his neck in anticipation.

[Santa Claus]!

The elegant body of the Vanir rapidly morphed, his belly grew to the size of a wine barrel while his arms and legs became thick and muscular. Blue Planet's green hair became white and a glorious beard-mustache mixture flew down his massive belly. The poor set of pajamas bursted as the cheap fabric gave away. Furry coat and trousers of vibrant red replaced the previous apparel, topped with a stocking cap of the same color.

Blue Planet looked at the approaching undead under his bushy eyebrows.

"Staying up past bed time, time makes you a bad boy."

Santa seemed to blink in and out of existence as he obliterated every undead that got remotely close to Edward. Blue Planet in his avatar form smashed through bone giants and bone dragons like they were made out of toothpicks.

"Ho ho hooooooo!" The jolly old man easily handled the waves of undead until the titan reached their position. The colossus swung the meteorite sword over its head, aiming and the stationary target which was Edward rather than choosing the bouncy Santa.

' _Shit.'_ Santa flexed his leg muscles and bulleted toward the sword. While Blue Planet managed to change the trajectory of the swing, the sword still came down on the super-buffed Vanir with massive force, slicing through the side of the city like it is cutting through cake.

Having finished his spell, Edward set his cold gaze upon the undead titan. "If you can't go to hell, then hell comes for you."

[Et tu, Brute]

Thirty-two conjured daggers slammed themselves into the body of the titan. Daggers were avoidable projectiles. This was a spell that brought increasingly more destruction as the number of daggers landed increased. Because daggers were avoidable and could be blocked, it was not a spell as effective as over-tier spells such as [Fallen Down] which was very hard to dodge due to its massive area of effect. But because of the same reason if all thirty daggers hit, single target spell [Et tu, Brute] dealt nearly quadruple the damage of [Fallen Down].

With a snap from Edward's fingers, the daggers exploded creating an explosion equal to the force of a miniature nuclear blast. Edward took out his sunglasses from his briefcase and put them on in order to avoid the annoying brightness of the spectacle.

Blue Planet had also emerged under the meteor sword, a little bit roughed up, mumbling as he tried to put out the flames on his white beard.

' _Next time use something less messy Edward.'_ He retorted through [Message].

' _My apologies Blue Planet-sama.'_

Chunks of dead flesh where daggers stuck were blown away but the titan still towered over the duo in between the flames and smoke. The burnt colossus roared and readied for another attack.

' _Alright Edward let's take this big boy down. I really need some gear or I will be walking around naked when I transform back.'_

' _As you wish.'_

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Reviews and critique are welcome!


	20. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Berethur watched the armored figure, while the earth underneath them shook from the distant battle. Mysterious knight did not exude any sort of malicious aura. On the contrary, Berethur could sense the honor and regality of the person. Knight gestured him to sit.

Naturally, the sorcerer had become quite curious to how such a proper knight had come to this decrepit city. The easiest way to find out was to ask the man. Although the very ground shook violently with tremors, and inhuman screams came from the distance; they sat around the fire in the centuries-old room.

"I am Berethur Konigen of Roble. May I know your name?" Berethur had opted to introduce himself as a countrymen of Roble. After all, he did not feel comfortable with introducing himself as a member of an insignificant and ignorant village. The young sorcerer had never liked the village whom he was born in.

The knight reclined backwards slowly, putting his hands behind to balance himself. He replied calmly, like their current predicament was nothing out of the ordinary.

"I am Salazar of Pluto, the watcher." His voice was mechanized as it resonated within his helmet. Giving it a robotic tone.

Berethur mused upon the knight's response.

"My apologies Salazar-san, but would you tell me where Pluto is located? Although I have looked at some world maps, I have never heard of a country or city by that name."

The knight laughed without diminishing his composure. It was deep and genuine, but also calculating and restrained. It gave a hint to the knight's personality.

"It is the name of the city above you, young man. The long-forgotten name of the floating city. The name by which the Eight Greed Kings called it. The origins of the name however, is unknown."

Berethur looked at the man with unbelieving eyes. Were there still lineages living within the floating city? It made no sense otherwise for a human to be here. Centuries had passed since the short-lived days of splendor of the Greed Kings. The other option was that the knight was not human, but from a long living race.

' _An elf maybe? Or maybe someone like lady Joann. Nymph as Blue Planet called wasn't it?'_ In any case, Berethur was extremely curious.

"Does that mean you live up there? Is the flying ci- Pluto not deserted?"

Knight shook his head as a negative.

"It is still the home for me as well as many others. It is quite a unique city, but it is a city regardless. It is not what it once was during the rain of the Greed Kings, but life still perseveres."

"I see…" Berethur muttered.

Salazar gave him a nod, "You have come to visit Pluto, haven't you. The legendary city of myths and legends. If you wish, I will take you there. It is my home after all. This way you would not have to pass over the Graveyard of the Damned."

Berethur was split between being cautious and curious. A golden opportunity was given to him but every rose has its thorns. It was vague whether this offer would end up biting him in the future or not. Thus, his first instinct was to turn Salazar down and wait for Blue Planet and Edward to do the heavy lifting. But he immediately vanished those thoughts. ' _This is my journey. I can't always depend on the mighty. I may not be strong enough to make my own fate, but I am not petty enough to expect others to make it for me. I can come back for them after seeing what this opportunity has to offer.'_

"Thank you for your kind offer Salazar, I graciously accept. Lead the way."

"Think nothing of it." Said the knight dismissively. Salazar stood up and the duo moved out. They moved back out to the entrée, from there they proceeded deeper into the building. As previously said, closer to the heart of the city, buildings had started piling over each other, so there were roads over rooms and buildings were connected through small hallways like a human ant hill.

As they walked Berethur asked about the horrific presence in the black pit which Salazar had called the Graveyard of the Damned. So the knight spoke.

"Well, might as well give you a brief history lesson. After the descent of the Eight Greed Kings, they conquered the known world in its entirety. Even I do not know the true extent of their influence. At some point of their campaign, their invasive policies took the attention of the dragon lords. Or rather, they no longer could ignore it. Dragon lords were a number of elder dragons that were bestowed magnificent power ages ago. However, their might made them disattached and ignorant to worldly affairs. When they intervened, it was already too late. Out of the legendary twelve, only four of them remained after they were hunted down one by one by the Greed Kings." Salazar gave a long sigh, but continued on.

"Dragon lords thought they were powerful, but ten of them were barely able to take down a single Greed King. What broke their fighting spirit was the fact that the defeated Greed King came back from the dead. There was no sure way to totally annihilate the kings. So the dragon lords decided to destroy the source of their control, the Flying City as a final desperate attempt… that ended in utter defeat. For some time, Greed Kings held the world in their palms, and squeezed it to their satisfaction." Salazar paused again before continuing.

"But things changed after something that they did not expect happen. The last of the so called Six Gods, Shurshana stood against them. For reasons unknown, although she was utterly defeated under Pluto, the relations between the Kings were irreversibly severed. The forces of each group clashed until they grew week and weary. At the final battle, the one called the "Guild Leader" by the Kings fell on to the very soil where Shurshana was defeated. This however, was not the end of him. The leader of the Kings rose back as an abomination, slaying the other weakened Greed Kings. So the Greed Kings fell next to Shurshana one by one. At the end only the abomination remained. I call him the undertaker. He watches over the Graveyard of the Damned."

As the speech ended, Salazar and Berethur arrived to a long hallway. The floor and the walls were empty aside from the discoloration remained after the moved furniture and pictures. At the end of the hallway stood a metallic mirror. It covered the entire length and width of the corridor.

The knight walked down the hallway like it had no end. Berethur could not help but flinch as Salazar walked _into_ the mirror. Instead of bouncing back from the hard surface, Salazar walked straight through it, gesturing Berethur to do the same just before completely disappearing.

Berethur inspected his stupefied expression on his reflection. He walked into the mirror more as a self-punishment for looking so stupid, rather than his trust to Salazar. The young sorcerer expected a painful collusion, but Berethur was instead met a feeling similar to taking a cold shower, as he moved through the mirror to the other side.

Pillars, shards, spiky protrusion of metal were coming out from everywhere around him. The mirror of which they had arrived was just a face of one of the gigantic pillars of platinum coming out of the ground. It was magical but also scary. As he slowly moved around, large, small, bloated and scrawny reflections of him moved to various direction on the surfaces of the metal protrusions. The way Berethur took in between the pillars led him to an opening, which led him to stairs, which led him to one of the eldest of this world.

White scales that scattered light into thousand directions covered the entirety of the huge dragon. Under the glittering cloak of light one could barely perceive the form of it. As Berethur's eyes got used to its image, the sorcerer discerned the two blue eyes observing him under heavy lids to his far left. Berethur was standing thirty meters away from the dragon, but he still had to turn his face to see the head of the beautiful beast. Just in front of his feet, an empty suit of armor laid.

"Welcome Berethur, to Pluto. I am the Platinum Dragon Lord. Some humans, the few of the few, know me as the wandering knight Salazar. Even fewer know that those two identities are one and the same."

' _Elf?… no, nymph?...no, dragon?...close but no…it just had to be a dragon lord.'_

The sorcerer went pale. It was understandably hard to discern what were to come next.

"Do you remember what I have told you about the Greed Kings Berehur?"

"Yes…" Berethur replied weakly.

The dragon lord exhaled slowly. A mysterious mist came out of its nose trills, covering one of the platinum pillars present in the room. The surface of the pillar came alive, showing an intense battle between two figures and a terrifying colossus.

"That Titan is the undead husk of the Guild Leader, the head of the Eight Greed Kings. In my time within their deserted domain, I have learned much about the machinations of Pluto. His existence is crucial."

Berethur was entranced by the intense battle. It took a while for him to realize this was the ongoing battle underneath them. His only clue was the presence of the abyssal pit and the burning remains of a large chunk of Eryuentiu. A heavily damaged titan was fighting a smaller blue giant and a fat figure dressed in red.

The dragon lord watched along with Berethur.

"Your friends are winning. They have made their choice to kill the last King. However, that husk's presence is the only thing keeping this guild functioning." Dragons eyes descended on the sorcerer.

"As a consequence you have to make a choice too. When the last king truly dies, and the guild dissolves; magic of Pluto will cease to exist. And when it does, it will fall down with everything within it. Your journey will end in failure and death. Even if I had not brought you here, this entire city will be no more when Pluto falls down, resulting in unavoidable death for you. Even your friends can not survive death when the guild leader falls along with the entirety of the city."

' _What the fuck have I gotten myself into again. No actually, for the first time in my life, it was not my luck that ploughed me. Blue Planet-san, what the fuck did you got me into?'_

The Platinum Dragon Lord hardened his gaze on the human. "You travel with the same kind of the Eight Greed Kings and a demon. Berethur, it pains me to take such action more than it should pain you. As the only way for me to save this city is to stop the guild from dying out. That means I will have to give the most powerful magical item of the Eight Greed Kings to an undeserving, ignorant human."

"You cannot possibly mean… Am I supposed to be a Greed King?!"

"Bwahahahaha!" The dragon had to take half a minute of silence to get back its composure.

"Haah, humans never cease to surprise me. No little man, you cannot possibly be one of them. But you can be a guild member, or specifically, the guild leader of a one-man guild so that my home and many others is not utterly destroyed. You have to."

Berethur gulped. What did this mean? What was to happen to him when he took this title? What were to happen to Edward and Blue Planet. How much will his new forced responsibility complicate their relationship?"

"I guess I do not have a choice?" He spoke while trying to meet the dragon lord's glare and miserably failing.

"No."

"All right, I will do my part."

"You are concerned for nothing Berethur, one who should be concerned is me."

The inanimate armor rose from the ground, coming together yet again.

"Follow Salazar, he will lead you to your new responsibility."

As the sorcerer went through another pillar with part of the dragon lord's consciousness, Platinum Dragon Lord silently watched the battle. Especially tracking the movements of Blue Planet's avatar state.

' _So the ruthless force of nature returns to the world. A new master of death, Ainz Ooal Gown rises to power in the North, Theocracy fully functionalizes the Black Scripture. Is it time for us old fools to act? In any case, it is time to visit some old friends.'_

…

Rows and rows of armed man stretched to the horizon. Behind these lines were large war machines, archers, strategically positioned knights and horse archers. Even further, on a heavily defended hill stood silver clad knights mounted on elephant-sized winged horses in a circle. Within the circle wasa group of armed and armored elites standing before a golden clad man. The God Emperor Thull.

Everyone on the hill was looking at the unorganized army of tens of thousands of beastmen. Creatures of all kind of shapes of sizes, bipedal like man but all carrying varying resemblances to different one or multiple animals. Just like Thull's army, the beastmen army was armed to the teeth. Instead of siege engines and war machines, beastmen had giants and massive bipedal elephant-like creatures standing next to hills of boulders.

The only reason the beastmen waves had not yet clashed to Roble forces was a gigantic minotaur singularly facing the Roble forces. It occasionally roared and yelled in a primitive language towards the ranks of men. Pacing side to side in the middle of the two armies.

The battalion commanders awaited the command of the generals, and the generals awaited the command from the elites. The elites looked expectantly at Thull.

"What is that overgrown-cow doing?" The God-Emperor was bored with the lack of action.

One of the elites bowed respectfully and spoke.

"This is beastmen tradition Thull-sama. Before battle, beastmen bring forth one of their strongest warriors to taunt the opponent leader into a one on one fight. Usually the challenger is not a general. By taunting the general into battle, they seek to both show their dominance and kill of the commander of the enemy army. In beastmen culture, refusing such challenge is cowardice which would lower respect to the leader and boosts the moral of the challenger side. As a result, it is a win-win for the challenger party."

The elite quickly added, "We are not savages of course Thull-sama. Such primitive notions mean nothing to us nor the man. You need not raise a finger." He bowed even lower as he concluded.

Thull exhaled roughly, flapping his lips as doing so. "What a bunch of circus animals. Even their Jotunn's look like scrawny little toddlers."

The elites looked each other questioningly, trying to see if anyone else had extracted the secret wisdom within their God's words. No one had any clue.

"Tell men to stay put." And so, The God-Emperor vanished before the very eyes of twenty or so nobles and thirty Lloyd knights.

The golden clad God reappeared over the ranks of men. Slowly cheering voices rose amongst the ranks as men noticed Thull flying in the air, steadily rising up until the whole army began to shook the ground with their deafening roar.

Eggy landed right in front of the army line and looked at the overgrown minotaur. _'Hm, give or take around level 27. A bug. A rather large bug. A rather large and ugly bug.'_

The minotaur met his arrival with a throaty roar. While Thull was tall by human standards, God-Emperor looked like a toy soldier in front of the fifteen-foot mountain of muscle. This beast neither had the control Gallahad had over his body nor had a comparable mastery over his weapon.

Both sides watched silently except for the elites who were excitedly discussing what Thull was going to do next.

The minotaur stomped the ground couple of times, creating a solid base to launch off its charge. It wielded two hatched on both hands, raised imposingly on both sides. Without delay, the beast charged. It rapidly covered the distance accelerating so fast that it became a blur ten feet away from the God-Emperor.

On the hill excited elites were yelling things like "dodge!", "smite him!", "build a wall!" on the top of their lungs.

Eggy lifted his thumb to aim at the enemy army. There it was. A massive beastmen with a lion mane sitting on a platform. That was the leader. He relaxed his shoulders for the swing. _'I have to be precise. This is going to be hard.'_

Thull swung the flat of his sword as the beast charged in. Where he aimed at was not the body of the minatour, but the tip of its horn. The blade easily shattered the horn sending part of the projectile in to the beastmen ranks. Previously cheering and roaring ranks of beastmen slowly became silent.

Their champion had charged full force into Thull. The proof was the twitching body beneath the golden warior's feet, shattered upon impact. The second fold to the beastmen's surprise was the large hole in the shoulder of their leader. The distraught lion-men held its shoulder with one of his paws.

' _Tsk, I missed.'_

Slowly angry roars began to come from the beastmen side while the Roble side was still appalled. Many people did not even notice the commotion in the beastmen ranks and the ending to the battle was less than heroic. The beast was simply broken as it struck full force into something harder than its own bones.

"Well?" Thull yelled at the men. "ADVANCE!"

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Thanks for reading! I apologize to the people who have read it before I made some fixes. Sadly I do not have the time to polish or check my writing. Regards~~


End file.
